Recipe: Mexican Cabbage Soup

Hearty cabbage soup

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