Herbed Stock Couscous Soup#Soupswappers

This is a flavorful soup. The herbs are boiled in water and then strained. This gives the stock a fantastic aroma and taste to the soup. The herbs used are organic and from my garden. It's has veggies and couscous, this is a complete meal soup. If you want a light and delicious dinner then soup is for you. In this soup you can add veggies of your choice, there isn't any hard and fast rule as to what veggies can go in.

Serves 3
Ingredients
For The Herbed Stock
1 Big Stock Cube
8 Cups Water
5 - 6 Sprigs Fresh Thyme
5 - 6 Fresh Sprigs Oregano
10 - 12 Basil Leaves
4 Ribs Celery - for the stock used the only leaves
5 - 6 Sprigs Mint
Other Ingredients
4 Ribs Celery - chopped
1 Large Carrot - diced
1 Medium Onion - chopped
1 Medium Head Broccoli - cut into florets
1 Medium Tomato - diced
2 Big Cloves Garlic - finely chopped
¼ Teaspoon Roasted Cumin Powder
Salt & Black Pepper powder to taste
A Dash of Paprika - Optional
1 Teaspoon Olive Oil
Hot & Sweet Sauce - as required

Method
For The Stock

In a large pot add the water, stock cube and all the herbs with the stems, except the celery since the ribs will be chopped to prepare the soup. Bring this to a boil, when it comes to rolling boil, let it simmer till the stock reduces to 5 cups. Do reduce the stock too much since the couscous will absorb a lot of the stock and you will then have to add extra water to the soup. Let the stock cool a little then strain all the stock and discard the herbs.

For The Soup

In a large pot heat a teaspoon of olive oil, add the onion and garlic sauté till the onion is translucent add all the veggies and sauté for 2 minutes on medium high flame. Add the stock and bring this to a boil. Reduce the flame to low and let the veggies cook till they are just done. Add the couscous and stir it well, cook it for 2 minutes, stirring continuously. Add salt, black pepper to taste and cumin powder. Let this simmer for a minute. Switch off the flame.

Serve hot in a soup bowl with a dash of paprika and black pepper powder for my hubby.

For me add a teaspoon of Hot & Sweet Sauce and it tasted awesome. Enjoy this filling delicious meal, healthy soup.
Labels: Vegan, Soup, Soup Swappers, Herbs, Broccoli, Carrot, Onion, Garlic, Couscous, Main course, Healthy Dinners