With very little tweaking – and often, not any – Portuguese soups, like creamy turnip soup, are perfect for vegan soup lovers. This Vegan Portuguese Turnip Soup has smooth richness from puréed white kidney beans. Stray pantry items make wonderful additions to a pot luck soup. Though dried beans are a first choice, canned, rinsed kidney beans can be used if time is short. Be mindful of the salt content of canned beans.
Featured in: Portuguese is the New Vegetarian’s Cuisine
Ingredients
For the soup:
- •60 ml (1/4 cup) olive oil
- •1 large yellow turnip (rutabaga), cut and peeled (about 1.1 liter/6 cups)
- •Two 397 grams (14-ounce) cans white kidney beans or 1 liter (4 cups) precooked dried beans
- •118 ml (1/2 cup) chopped onion
- •2 medium carrots, peeled and cut into small chunks
- •1 boiling (waxy) potato, peeled, cut into medium chunks
- •1 garlic clove
- •473 ml (2 cups) chopped cabbage, rinsed
- •355 to 473 ml (1 1/2 to 2 cups) chopped kale, rinsed
- •10 ml (2 teaspoons) coarse salt, or as needed
- •1.3 ml (1/4 teaspoon) freshly ground white pepper, or to taste
To use dried beans instead of canned
- •473 ml (2 cups) dried white kidney beans
To prepare dried beans: Pick over the beans for stones or debris, and rinse well. Place in a bowl and cover with 5 cm (2 inches) water. Soak overnight. Drain the next day, place the beans in a pot with fresh water and bring to a boil. Reduce the heat and simmer for 45 minutes until tender. Reserve until needed.
Preparation
In a large soup pot, about 4.5 liters (5 quarts), combine 2 liters (8 cups) water, olive oil, turnip, cooked or canned beans, onions, carrot, potato, and garlic. Cover and bring to a boil. Reduce the heat to medium-low and simmer until the vegetables are very tender.
Use an immersion (stick) blender to purée the contents of the pot. Return the soup to a boil, add the cabbage and kale. Simmer until the greens are tender 15-20 more minutes. Season the soup with salt and pepper to taste.