Recently, I had a wisdom tooth out, so for the first couple of days after the surgery, I had to stick to liquid and soft foods. So I decided to treat this as an opportunity to try my hand at a new recipe for a tasty butter bean soup that would give me some of my daily servings of veggies as well as some plant protein and fibre from the beans! It turned out pretty frickin’ tasty and I knew it was one for the blog!

Recipe (Serves 5-6)

Ingredients

• 1 tbsp extra virgin olive oil (or your preferred cooking oil!)
• 1 garlic clove, peeled and minced
• 1/2 tsp mild chili powder
• 1/2 tsp ground cinnamon
• 1 tsp ground turmeric
• 1 tsp ground cumin
• 1 tsp of medium curry powder
• 2 tsp ground ginger
• 1 white onion, peeled and chopped finely
• 2 medium carrots, peeled and diced into coins, then coins halved
• 2 cups of broccoli florets, washed
• 2 handfuls of washed spinach leaves
• 2 x 400g tins of butter beans
• 1 400ml tin of coconut milk
• 400ml of vegetable stock
• 2 tbsp of peanut butter
• Seasoning: 1/2 tsp of salt and a little black pepper

Method

1. Heat the oil in a medium sized pot on your cooking hob/stove, then add the onions and garlic, and cook for 3-4 minutes to sweat the onions a little.
2. Add your broccoli, carrots and spinach and stir.
3. Add the spices and stir to combine them into the veggies.
4. Add the stock, butter beans and coconut milk, and mix everything up again.
5. Lastly, add the peanut butter, season, and bring to the boil.
6. Turn the heat down to the lowest setting and simmer for 20 minutes.
7. After 20 minutes, blend using your food processor (take care with the heat!), a handheld blender, or as I did, your Nutribullet!
8. You can freeze portions of this soup too – just ensure you defrost before consuming.
9. I also think this makes a lovely butter bean curry too – so you could have a portion of this with your side of choice (rice, quinoa, or greens for example) instead of blending it into soup.

Enjoy guys! Tag me if you try this one out – @theirishbalance on Instagram/Twitter/Facebook!

Ciara 🙂 x