This recipe is an adaptation of one I first made about 30 years ago (in my vegan days) from The American Vegetarian Cookbook from the Fit for Life Kitchen by Marilyn Diamond. Better hot but also good cold IMO!

There have been many incarnations of this soup in my life, including as a staple at the health food deli where I worked–along with a catering job–to finance an 8-week trip to an ashram in India (that, my friends, is a story for another time.)

Lately I’ve simplified the soup to the bare bones for a quick and delicious low allergen side dish. Sometimes I have this with a side of tempeh, sometimes chicken, and it’s a really great side with salmon.

Ingredients:

• 2-3 TBSP olive oil
• 1 large yellow onion chopped
• 3-4 cups of chopped broccoli
• 1 cup of chopped carrots or baby carrots
• 3 TBSP roasted tahini
• 3-4 cups of water, veggie stock, or chicken stock, bone broth or combination (I wouldn’t use chicken soup though, as it is too strong.)
• Salt and pepper to taste.

How to make it:

1. Sauté onion in olive oil for 5 minutes.
2. Add broccoli and carrots and continue to sauté for 3 minutes.
3. Add water or stock and bring to a boil.
4. Simmer until veggies are soft (you should be able to just barely mash with a fork.)
5. Put the tahini in a bowl with an equal amount of broth and mix with a fork, then add another few TBSP of broth and mix again. Continue until the tahini liquid is a similar temperature to the soup so it doesn’t curdle when you add it.
6. Mix tahini liquid into soup.
7. Finally, you have two options for blending. The easy option: Use a hand blender to blend the soup to your preferred texture. You can always add more broth or water if you like. If you like it smoother, put a few cups at a time of the soup into a blender or vitamix and add it back into the soup until it is the texture you like. Careful not to put too much in the blender if it’s super hot as it will cause too much pressure to build up! I prefer the hand blender because it is easy to clean up, and doesn’t make the soup pasty.

NOTE: You can also vary the veggies! I find that leafy greens don’t work very well but I have made the soup at one time or another with various combinations of cauliflower, peas, broccoli, carrots, sweet potato, potatoes and leeks, carrots, and other veggies.

Enjoy!