Ellie Kisyombe is back with another delicious, warming soup recipe. This week, Vagem Lizulu winter soup…
[restrict]Vagem Lizulu is a blend of fresh ingredients sourced from the garden or vegetable market. ‘Vagem’ means ‘green beans’ in Portuguese, as my recipes are inspired by Mozambique, where Portuguese is the official language. I have so much love for my neighbouring country of Mozambique. My mother had so much respect for Mozambican cuisine because of its history, and the spices that Portuguese people brought to Mozambique during colonial times. As much as I don’t like to talk much of the colonial history, it’s also good to let people know how spices came about in many parts of the world.
INGREDIENTS
200g sugarsnaps
150g chestnut or wild mushrooms
1 sweet red bell peppers
2 carrots
3 spring onions
4 cloves of garlic
Half an inch of ginger
2 cubes of vegetable stock
1tsp pesto
A pinch of salt
2 tbsp cooking wine
1 tbsp corn flour
1 onion
2 1/2 tbsps olive oil
1 pint of water
METHOD
1. Prep all the vegetables and place them in nice clean bowls.
2. Get a clean pan and place it on your induction or gas heat on a medium heat.
3. Add olive oil, then garlic and ginger. Soften them for three minutes. Once the ginger and garlic are softened, then add your water let it start boiling.
4. Then add your carrots and your mushrooms. If you are using wild mushrooms it’s good to add them before carrots as wild mushrooms are a little bit tough. Then add all the rest of your vegetables to it.
5. After adding the vegetables, add the green pesto. Next, add cooking wine. You can add a tea spoon of sugar or honey if you want. But if you don’t like the sweet and sour taste, leave it out. Mix your vegetable stock with your water lastly, and add that. Then add corn flour to thicken if needed, and cook for ten more minutes.
6. After blending, it’s ready to season and serve.
Apreciar! (That means enjoy in Portuguese)
Photo by Hanna Balan on Unsplash
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