Portuguese soup

Here in Singapore I´m often asked about how´s a Portuguese soup and how it´s prepared. Don´t even bother to grab a pen and paper, because it´s really simple - and delicious!

For starters, I´m a big, big fan of soup, whether it´s the familiar Portuguese soup or the exotic Asian one, being the Thai soup one of my favorites! If you open my fridge, it´s always there! (The Portuguese / Mediterranean type, as don´t know how the prepare Asian soup).

The Portuguese soups are extremely easy to prepare and a great option as a light and satiating meal at the same time. Normally, it´s what I like to have for dinner and my son also always has a bowl of it before the main dish. It´s a great way for me to make sure that he has his veggies and he really likes it.

A Portuguese soup consists, nothing more nothing less, of boiled and blended vegetables, preferably from different color groups. Like this:

One green veggie - broccoli, spinach, cabbage, zucchini or peas...
One orange veggie - pumpkin or carrots (sometimes tomatoes)
One yellow veggie - chickpeas (my favorites!), butter beans, potatoes or sweet potatoes

On top of this, with no exception, I always add coriander, one of my favorite ingredients that adds an amazing extra flavor to the soup. If you prefer, you can replace the coriander by basil.

Put all these ingredients in a pan, 2 teaspoons of sea salt, cover everything with water and let it boil for around 45 minutes. Right before blending everything altogether, add a spoon of olive oil and it´s done! You got yourself a creamy soup, ready to eat!

Now, if you want to add an extra flavor, before putting all the ingredients and the water in the pan, you can brown one onion and/or garlic first and some chouriço as well (5 slices are enough). Living in Singapore you can´t find the Portuguese chouriço, so you can try to use the Spanish one instead. I think it can work just fine.
         
To finish of, if you also want some texture, after blending the veggies,you can put the cream back into the pan and add some chopped spinach or cabbage, whatever you prefer, and let it cook for more 10 to 15 minutes.

Simple, healthy and delicious... Take my word for it!