Salam Alaykum,

This time of year screams soup, soup and more soup! yes please i say and with not always meat in my fridge/freezer i have to look for ways of creating delicious soups from vegetables alone, this is where chili steps in to give your vegetables a kick in the right direction.

Me being a weakling when it comes to anything hot and spicy i choose to add baked beans, my favourite pregnancy snack that i usually munch on toast that are packed with sugar and spice and all things nice to balance the flavour and a sprinkling of sugar to the soup at the end won't go a miss because well for me the chili strength is overpowering, even i only used half a chili and at that it was de-seeded!

Like with everything i cook, rather than bake! i usually make it up as i go along because to be frank i rarely have all the ingredients i need for any one recipe at any one given time which i think most home cooks can relate to.

If you have fresh coriander it would look/taste well, chopped and scattered over this soup.

Sweet Chili Chunky Vegetable Soup

Ingredients

• 1 onion
• 1-2 cloves of garlic
• 1/2 red chili, de-seeded
• 1 carrot
• 1 celery stick
• 1 potato
• 1/2 tin of baked beans or plain haricot beans(you may need to adjust the spicing/seasoning)
• 1tsp tomato puree
• 1 dry bay leaf
• 1/2 tsp salt or to taste
• 1/4 tsp black pepper
• 1/4 tsp turmeric
• 1/4 tsp fennel seeds
• 1/4 tsp ground coriander
• 1/4 tsp cumin
• 1-2tbsp olive oil
• enough water/stock to just cover the vegetables
• 1/2 tsp sugar

Method

1. Chop onion, peel garlic then put in food processor to finely chop. De-seed and finely chop chili, cut the remaining vegetables except the beans into chunks.
2.  In a large pot on medium heat, fry onion, garlic and chili in oil until onion is translucent and soft.
3. Add spices, seasonings and tomato puree and continue to fry for a minute more. Add all vegetables, beans and water/stock, bring to a boil and then simmer for 30-40 minutes until the vegetables are fully cooked. add sugar, check and adjust seasoning if needed and serve.