garden vegetable soup

There are some great things about living in Asia but feeling good about your size is not one of them. These conversations are a daily occurance:

“Hi, have you got this in a medium?” “Medium will not fit you”.
“Hi friend!” “Hi!! You look frumpy today”.
“Can you please do this?” “Boss, you’re so fat”.

It’s a good thing that I find it all very amusing but you know, it makes ordering that burger with curly fries feel very guilty. So here you have it, the healthiest soup in the world… probably.

Garden Vegetable Soup
Serves 4-6

Ingredients
Olive oil
1 brown onion, finely chopped
3 cloves of garlic, finely chopped
2 carrots, chopped into 2cm pieces
2 stalks of celery, chopped into 2cm pieces
1 leek, quartered &chopped into 2cm pieces
1 green zucchini, chopped into 2cm pieces
1 yellow zucchini, chopped into 2cm pieces
1 can of crushed tomatoes
3 stalks of kale, finely chopped
1L chicken stock
1 cup chopped parsley
Juice of 1 lemon
Salt and pepper

Method
Heat a few glugs of olive oil in a large pot and add the onion, garlic, leek, carrot, celery and zucchini. Saute on a low heat stirring regularly for 15 minute. Add more oil if the vegetables start to colour.

Add the can of tomatoes and heat through before pouring in the chicken stock. Season with salt and pepper, add the kale then leave to simmer for 15-20 minutes. Once the vegetables are soft finish off with the lemon juice and parsley.