Cheap Easy Vegan/Mcdougall Soup

Wherever you live, winter is coming...

This soup is made mostly of very cheap and available ingredients, with lots of room to add your own variety. 

Make lots and feed a crowd or eat for days or freeze for weeks...

Prep and cooking time: 1 hour+

Equipment and Ingredients

Large pot - 5L pictured
Food processor very helpful

Note: I use an electric kettle to preboil water for the pot but adding regular temperature water will eventually result in soup too.

• 1 to 3 brown onions
• 1/3 to 1/2 cabbage plus optional 1 cup of any chopped greens eg kale or dandelion leaves
• 3-5 large carrots
• 2c brown rice or barley (may substitute 1 c of rice/barley with 1c lentils)
• Optional - any other vegetables eg mushrooms, corn, peas, canned beans or vegetables
• Seasoning suggestions: stock powder, salt, turmeric powder, chili powder, garlic, bay leaves

Instructions

1. Peel the onions, grate in food processor, and add to pot to brown on med to high heat. Stir occasionally until soft and slightly browning - meanwhile grate the cabbage and carrots.
2. Add the cabbage and carrots to the browned onions. Stir and keep heating until the vegetables all soften. Any further browning is fine too.
3. Add water to fill pot at least halfway, stir well and heat back to bubbling. Add 1 tsp of salt or stock.
4. Add the brown rice, stir and simmer until rice has cooked. Add enough water if needed to keep soup very liquid and easy to stir.
5. When rice is cooked, add any optional vegetables like mushrooms, frozen peas or corn. Canned beans and canned chopped tomatoes are great quick additions.
6. Add more water to make a full pot and keep simmering.
7. Season to taste. This can be made Italian or curry style, or just lots of chili, garlic and stock.

Optional I usually add 2x servings of rice vermicelli at the end to make the goodness of the soup more appealing to the family. As seen in the pot pic. Omit and/or sub with grated potato or quinoa for McDougall MWL compliance.