Spicy Millet Vegetable Soup

Any combination of vegetables can be used in this Curried Vegetable Soup. For the grain, I used millet, but feel free to substitute quinoa instead. As with most soups, it tastes even better the next day once the flavours have had a chance to blend together. Make it up ahead of time and simply heat it up before serving for lunch or dinner the next day. The recipe yields a large pot making it an ideal soup to serve if you have lots of mouths to feed or if you want leftovers for a few days.

Spicy Millet Vegetable Soup

I cup of uncooked millet

3 tablespoons of olive oil
1 large onion, chopped
2 stalks of celery, chopped
2 medium sized carrots, thinly sliced
2 cloves of garlic, crushed or minced
1 inch piece of ginger, minced

7 cups of water or vegetable stock
2 - 3 teaspoons of celery seed

small handful of hot chilies, finely chopped
1 1/2 cups of broccoli, stems and flowerettes, chopped into bite sized pieces
1 large tomato, chopped
6 - 8 button mushrooms, chopped into pieces
1 tablespoon of curry powder
1 teaspoon of ground cumin
1 tablespoon of ground coriander
1/2 teaspoon of cayenne
1 teaspoon of turmeric
2 teaspoons of dried basil
1 teaspoon of dried thyme

frozen or fresh peas
5 tablespoons of tamari
2 teaspoons of sea salt (less if you are using vegetable stock)
freshly cracked black pepper
juice from two limes
handful of fresh parsley, chopped

Soak the millet overnight in about 1 cup of water. Drain, and set aside.

In a large soup pot, heat the oil over medium heat. When hot, add the onion, celery, carrots, garlic and ginger and stir and fry for about 5 minutes. Next, add the water or vegetable stock and the celery seed. Bring to a boil, reduce the heat to a simmer, cover and cook for about 15 minutes.

Add the broccoli stems to the pot, along with the tomato, mushrooms, millet, spices and herbs, and fresh peas if you are using them. Bring to a boil, immediately reduce the heat to low and cover and simmer for another 20 minutes, or until the millet is cooked.

Now add the broccoli flowerettes, tamari, salt, black pepper, frozen peas if you are using them and lime juice. Simmer for another 10 minutes. Taste for seasoning, and garnish each bowl with parsley.