February Flashback Fridays: Sumiko's Meatless Comfort Soup

Since Near to Nothing has been going for over a year-and-a-half, and our readership has grown tremendously, we thought we'd revisit a few "old" recipes.  If you've been with us the entire time, you may have forgotten about some of our originals.  If you're new to Near to Nothing, you may have missed some really great dishes.  So every Friday in February, we'll be reposting a previous recipe.

I thought I'd kick it off with a soup.  Yesterday morning Punxsutawney Phil saw his shadow.  As the legend goes, that means six more weeks of winter.  In my book, that means six more weeks of soup!  (Of course, we here in the Bay Area are still watering our lawns, waiting for winter to come.)  So, without further ado, Sumiko's meatless comfort soup from last winter.




A few weeks ago I posted about Auntie Laurel’s comfort soup.  While I really like it, I’ve developed my own version.  One way I try to save money on food is by making meatless meals so I omitted the Italian sausage.  I also added brown rice to complement the garbanzos for a complete protein and to boost the fiber.

This recipe makes a lot of soup but can be easily cut in half if you don’t want such a large batch.  I tried freezing it once, not expecting it to work.  Surprisingly, it did!  The zucchini ended up a little on the mushy side, but not too bad.

Sumiko’s Comfort Soup

1 Tbsp. vegetable oil

1 large onion, diced

5 cloves garlic, minced

6 c. water

3 Tbsp. beef bouillon

1 tsp. dried basil

3 c. cooked brown rice

28 oz. diced tomatoes

1 qt. garbanzo beans, drained

3 zucchini

1-2 tsp. salt

Parmesan cheese

Heat oil in 5-qt. stock pot; sauté onion and garlic over medium-high heat until onions begin to turn translucent.

Add remaining ingredients and increase heat to high.  Bring to boil, reduce heat and simmer until zucchini is tender, about 5-6 minutes.

Serve with Parmesan cheese.  Yield:  about 4 quarts.

If you don’t have leftover cooked rice and don’t want to make any just for this soup, you can start with uncooked rice.  Increase water to 8 cups.  After sautéing onion and garlic, add water, bouillon, basil, and 1 c. dry brown rice.  Simmer until rice is almost done, about 35-40 minutes.  Add remaining ingredients and continue as above.