This vegan, gluten-free cream of broccoli soup has a very creamy and velvety texture with faint notes of broccoli, green onion, and coconut--an immunity-boosting treat with any meal, especially on a cold winter night.
1tspavocado oil(or use ditch-the-oil cooking method)
1onion(white, big, ~1-1/4 cups finely chopped)
1tspsalt
2stalkscelery(~1 cup finely chopped)
1bigcarrot(~1 cup finely chopped)
1lbbroccoli(including stems, broken into florets, ~4 cups)
3cupsHomemade Vegetable Broth(or sub with store-bought low-sodium broth)
2tbspbrown rice*(cooked, can sub with white rice)
1tbsp shredded coconut(dried unsweetened or fresh)
2stemsgreen onions
1/4tspground black pepper (or to taste)
1cupHomemade almond milk**(no-waste recipe)
3tbsppumpkin seeds(toasted or raw)
To make garlicky broccoli croutons
1cup broccoli (broken or cut into small florets)
1/2 tspavocado oil
2clovesgarlic(minced or crushed)
1pinch salt
2tspwater
Instructions
Finely chop onions, celery, carrot, broccoli stems, and green onions; cut or break broccoli into smaller chunks.
Warm the oil in a heavy-bottom soup pot. Add onions and cook for 2-3 minutes till the onions become soft. Add carrots, celery, and broccoli stems and cook for 5 minutes. Add broccoli florets and cook for about another 3 minutes. At this point the veggies should be soft. You may need to add a couple of teaspoons of water if the veggies start sticking to the bottom of the pan.
Add brown rice, homemade almond milk (no-waste recipe), vegetable broth, chopped green onions, and shredded coconut. Bring it to a boil and simmer to medium-low heat for about 20 minutes. Cool the soup and add blend till well mixed.
You can top the soup with toasted pumpkins soup or garlicky broccoli croutons.
To make the garlicky broccoli croutons
Warm oil in a skillet and add minced garlic and broccoli florets with a pinch of salt. Add water and cook covered for 3-4 minutes until the broccoli becomes soft. Use as a soup topper.
Notes
*if the cooked rice is not handy, add 2 tbsp of cashews, or sunflower seeds, or cooked white beans, or almonds (blanched and de-skinned). For best results, soak these substitutes at least for 2 hours in warm water.**If Homemade almond milk (no-waste recipe) is not available, add two tbsp of blanched, de-skinned almonds with one cup of extra broth or plain, filtered water (See here: How to blanch and de-skin almonds). You can also use 2 tbsp pre-soaked cashews in place of almonds with 1 cup of water. Make it heart-healthy and diabetes friendly