I have recently discovered Natural World Market & Cafe in North Redondo Beach. In addition to being a low-waste supermarket, they’re helping to connect us to pure foods at a time when grocery shopping can be stressful. I ordered a produce box on Monday, and it did not disappoint!
The box contained, among other things, two heads of cabbage. I don’t cook a lot with cabbage, so I asked the Internet world for recipe suggestions. People love their cabbage! The recipes flooded in, and this one happened to use ingredients I mostly had on hand. I made it to my taste.
Ingredients:
- 1 tbsp EVOO
- 1 pound ground beef (I love Buy Ranch Direct!) – could make this vegetarian by simply adding more veggies of your choice instead
- 1 medium yellow onion, chopped
- 1 bunch of carrots, sliced
- 1 cup corn (I used frozen) – recipe called for a green pepper, but I didn’t have one
- 3 gloves garlic
- S&P to taste
- 6 cups broth of your choice – recipe called for beef, but I used homemade veggie broth
- 1/2 head of cabbage, thinly sliced
- 14oz canned diced tomatoes – recipe called for fire roasted, but I didn’t have any
- spice to taste, but I recommend 1 tsp cayenne pepper, 1 tsp chipotle chili powder, 1/2 tsp oregano, 1 tsp cumin
- 1/4 cup fresh lime juice
- Avocado, cilantro to top
Process:
- Heat EVOO in large soup pot
- Add onion, carrot, garlic, and beef, stirring to caramelize onion/cook beef
- I added the seasoning here rather than waiting until the end like the recipe called for! In Ayurvedic/Indian cooking you always toast the spices, and I use that rule for all recipes 🙂
- Add corn, tomatoes and broth
- recipe called to simmer for 20 minutes, but I simmered for 2 hours – you can’t go wrong letting soup continue to cook down so flavor can build
- Add cabbage and cook an additional 20 minutes until soft
- Stir in lime juice before eating, top with avocado and cilantro (or whatever you have!)
- If you’re going to make this for more than 1 meal, you could freeze the soup base and just add the cabbage when you reheat the soup