Minestrone is a thick soup of Italian origin made with vegetables, often with the addition of pasta or rice.

Common ingredients include beans, onions, celery, carrots, stock, and tomatoes. It has no fixed recipe, just take your favorite veggies, boil them in water with beans, and add rice or pasta to make it a complete meal.

Here we attempt a vegan and gluten free version of the soup, with vegetables, quinoa and kale. It is a very simple and a tasty soup and ready in less than 30 minutes. You may substitute kale with spinach and quinoa with rice or pasta.

Ingredients:
1 Cup red kidney beans, boiled or canned
Cup quinoa
4 Kale leaves, stems removed and chopped
1 Onion, sliced
2-3 Tomatoes, chopped
1 Small piece of ginger
2-3 Garlic cloves, chopped
2 Carrots, sliced or chopped
Bell pepper, chopped
2 tbsp. oil
3 Cups water
Salt and pepper to taste

Preparation:
1. Heat oil in pan and add onion, garlic and ginger, saut without browning for 5 minutes.

2. Add the tomatoes and saut for 5 minutes.

3. Add all the remaining veggies, salt and saut for 5 minutes.

4. Add quinoa with water, cook on low heat, covered for 10-15 minutes.

5. Add the beans then kale and cook for 5 minutes (add more water if required).

Tips:
1. Add a sqeeze of lemon juice before serving to make this little tangy.
2. You may add more veggies of your choice.

Serves : 2
Time : 30 Minutes