Minestrone Soup - Italian Veggie Soup for the Winter

There is interesting event behind Minestrone soup. This is one of special recipes that I demonstrated in Stanford Cooking class. I came to know about this recipe from my friend Sundari Lila. My gratitude to her for showing me this recipe. She also cooked one day and it was just amazing! From that day I loved this soup and often make it during the weekends. 

Minestrone soup is quite simple to make. Just boiling all the vegetable in sufficient water. It is great recipe for the winter. Best when you have lots of, varieties of vegetable and like to eat something hot and tasty. Here is the recipe...

• 1 Tbsp olive oil 
• ½ Tsp yellow asafetida powder
•  ¾ Tsp Italian seasoning (containing basil, rosemary, marjoram, thyme, sage and oregano)
• 1 stalk of celery, diced
• 2 zucchinis, sliced about half inch thick
• 1 big carrot or 2 medium sized carrots, sliced
• 1 big potato, peeled and diced into 1.5 cm cubes
• 1 bell pepper (capsicum), diced into 1.5 cm cubes
• 2 Tbsp chopped fresh parsley
• 3 tomatoes or 1 cup tomato puree
• 1 C cooked chickpeas
• 1 C cooked red kidney beans
• 6 to 8 C water 
• 1½ Tsp salt
• ¼ Tsp ground black pepper
• ¼ Tsp red chili flakes
• ¾ C uncooked pasta (any shape of your choice)

Procedure:

1. Heat oil in a saucepan over moderate heat, sprinkle asafetida powder, Italian seasoning. Do let it burn so add celery quickly and sauté for 30 seconds. Add all the vegetables one by one, stir fry for a while. Now add half the amount of water. Let it cook for 10 minutes over medium.

2. Pour the tomato puree and add the parsley. Add the chickpeas, kidney beans, water, salt, pepper and chili flakes. Add remaining water and cook covered partially over very low heat for 1½ hours (this soup tastes best when cooked slowly). If you want to cook fast add more water and cook on medium heat. It takes about half hour.

3. Add the uncooked pasta and raise the heat to medium and cook until the pasta is tender. Reduce the heat again to very low and cook for another 8-10 minutes. 

Offer to the Lord and enjoy with bread, pav or toast. It goes well with chapati also!

Cook Time: Minimum 30 minutes

Serves: 6 to 8