Description
Serve this soup at the beginning of a Mexican meal. Pureeing vegetables is a great way to get kids to eat them since you can’t pick anything out, plus kids are hungriest at the beginning of the meal – so serve a starter soup as a first course all by itself, not next to the rest of the plate.
Ingredients
- 1-2 Tbs. fat of your choice
- 1 medium onion, diced
- 1 red bell pepper, diced
- 3-4 garlic cloves, minced
- 1 tsp. cumin
- 1 tsp. Mexican oregano
- 1 tsp. salt
- dash cayenne
- 4 c. homemade chicken stock
- 2 c. diced tomatoes (1 can with juice)
- 1/4 c. uncooked white rice or 2-4 c. cooked brown rice (optional)
- green pepper
- spicy peppers
- greens: kale, spinach, chard, etc.
- cubed avocado
- sour cream
- squeeze of lime
- fresh cilantro
- shredded cheddar or Mexican cheese
- diced red onion
Instructions
- Melt fat (lard, butter, ghee, refined coconut oil (use the code STEWARDSHIP for 10% off at that site!)) over medium heat. Saute the peppers and onions for 5-10 minutes until softened. Add garlic, cumin, oregano, salt and cayenne and stir for 1-2 minutes. Pour in stock and tomatoes and bring to a boil.
- If you are adding the rice, stir it into the boiling broth, reduce heat to a simmer and cook at least 15 minutes until the rice is tender. For grain-free OR to serve over already-cooked rice, just cook for 5 minutes to let the flavors blend together.
- Turn off the heat and blend partially (or completely) with an immersion blender.
- If using cooked rice, put a large spoonful of warm rice in each bowl and ladle the soup overtop.
- Serve with cheese, chopped fresh cilantro and/or some of the other ideas below.
Notes
* If you have too many tomatoes to can, freeze or eat at the end of the season (or the middle), this is a great way to use a bunch of them.
* If the soup seems flat, add salt. Homemade stock often needs plenty of salt to magnify the flavors.
* Don’t have Mexican oregano? You should buy some and use it for refried beans too (try Mountain Rose Herbs (Link Removed)), but in the meantime, regular oregano is just fine.
* Don’t have an immersion blender? You should buy one; they have so many handy, time-saving uses, but in the meantime, you can eat the soup without blending or wait for it to cool slightly, then carefully pour into a regular blender and puree gently. You may need to work in two batches depending on the size of your blender.
* Feel free to use a good vegetable broth instead of chicken stock if you need a totally meatless dish. If you’re making your own stock, you might want to include plenty of garlic and maybe even some peppers.
* It’s the perfect opportunity to use the “bottom of the bag” chips (tortilla chips). You can even save the crumbles in the freezer until you have a bunch and serve with this soup.