No Cook Blender Soup – nice way to eat more vegetables – simple and tasty.
Until recently I was not very familiar with cold soups. Actually, the only one I knew was Gazpacho. It is OK, but nothing spectacular. I never gave too much thought to it or thought of any variation.
Lately I’m finding ways to incorporate more and more raw food into my diet. I’m making a lot of smoothies and smoothie bowls. Even though I like their sweet taste, I cannot eat/drink sweet all day long. My usual savory option was salad. I was trying to find a way to make “liquid salad” or “savory smoothie” and came up with something even better – a cold soup (I didn’t invent the soup – just accepted the idea of it). It doesn’t even need to be cold. If you use warm water (which will be nice in the winter) you can make your soup warm or lukewarm.
This type of raw soup can be made with lots of different kinds of vegetables. I believe the trick to achieving really good taste of the soup is using sun-dried tomatoes or other dry vegetables or mushrooms.
For protein I used pumpkin seed flour (dried pulp left after pressing pumpkin seed oil). If you have trouble finding it, you can grind pumpkin seeds in your coffee or spice grinder. Or you can substitute it with hemp protein or green pea protein powder. Keep in mind that pumpkin seed flour has nice taste while protein powders are rather bland, so you might want to increase the amount of spices.
You don’t need to use all ingredients that I listed in the recipe for this No Cook Blender Soup. I’m aware that some of them are hard to find. This recipe is more a suggestion than a rule. Be free to experiment with what you have on hand.
- 1 fresh tomato
- 1/2 fresh cucumber
- 1/2 celery stalk
- 1/2 cup rice flakes or oat flakes
- 1 - 2 Tbsp pumpkin seed flour or ground pumpkin seeds or hemp protein or green pea protein powder or other nuts and seeds rich in protein
- cup about 1 hot or cold water or vegetable broth
- 1/2 - 1 Tbsp olive oil
- 1/2 Tbsp soy sauce
- Seasonings : salt ground black pepper, dry garlic, dry porcini mushrooms, smoked paprika, cayenne pepper, Italian spice, to taste
- RED:
- 3 sun-dried tomatoes from oil
- 1/2 fresh red bell pepper
- 1/4 tsp paprika
- GREEN:
- 1/2 cup chopped spinach leaves (or Swiss chard kale, cabbage)
- 1 tsp barley grass powder
- 1/2 tsp spirulina or similar algae
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Put tomato, cucumber, celery stalk and rice flakes to your blender.
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Add pumpkin seed flour, olive oil, soy sauce and spices. Blend for about 30 seconds or until smooth (or chunky, depends what you like). Divide the mixture in half.
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To make RED soup: To the first half of mixture, add sun-dried tomatoes, red bell pepper and paprika. If you're not vegan, you can add some Parmesan cheese, while vegans can use a bit of nutritional yeast.
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To make GREEN soup: To the second half of mixture, add spinach, barley grass powder and spirulina. Blend until smooth.
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Serve with a dollop of yogurt (dairy or non dairy).
