A vegan take on a traditional spiced noodle and vegetable soup eaten in Uzbekistan and throughout Central Asia.
5 from 1 vote
Prep Time 20 minutesmins
Cook Time 40 minutesmins
Course Main, Soup
Cuisine Uzbekistan
Servings 4
Ingredients
2tablespoonsolive oil
1medium auberginediced
2tablespoonsolive oil
250gmushrooms
2onionsdiced
5clovesgarlicminced
2tomatoesdiced
1teaspoonpaprika
1tablespoonground cumin
1teaspoonground coriander
½star anise
½teaspooncracked black pepper
1tablespoontomato paste
1large carrotdiced
1red bell pepperdiced
2bay leaves
1litre vegan beef stockor vegetable stock
2medium potatoesdiced
400gtin chickpeasdrained and rinsed
Chinese style noodles for 4
10gfresh corianderroughly chopped
Instructions
Prepare all the vegetables by dicing them into similar sized pieces, around 2cm cubes. The mushrooms can be quartered.
Heat 2 tablespoons of olive oil in a pan over medium-high heat. Once hot add the diced aubergine with a pinch of salt and cracked black pepper and fry until golden on all sides, around 3 minutes. Remove the aubergine from the pan and drain any excess oil. Reserve for later.
In the same pan, the aubergine was cooked in, add more olive oil so there are roughly 2 tablespoons in the pan. Keeping the heat on medium-high, preheat the oil before adding the mushrooms. Fry the mushrooms until their moisture has been released and cooked off and the mushrooms are golden around the edges. This will take around 4 minutes.
Once the moisture from the mushrooms has cooked off add the diced onions with a pinch of salt and cook them with the mushrooms until starting to turn translucent and soft, around 4 minutes.
Add the garlic and cook until fragrant, around 1 minute.
Add the diced tomatoes and cook until they are falling apart and the mixture is quite dry but not burning, around 4 minutes.
Now add the spices and tomato paste and stir to coat everything while continuing to cook for a further 1 minute.
Now add the diced carrot, red bell pepper and bay leaves to the pan with the stock. Mix together then bring to a boil before turning the heat down to a gentle simmer. Cover the pot with a lid and simmer for 10 minutes.
Once the soup has been simmering for 10 minutes add the potatoes and continue to simmer for a further 10 minutes.
At this stage check, the potatoes and carrots are almost fully cooked and also check for seasoning. You might need to add more salt depending on how salty your stock is. I had to add a further ½ teaspoon. Once you are happy with the seasoning add the reserved diced aubergine that was cooked earlier and the drained chickpeas. Continue to cook for 5 minutes until the chickpeas are heated through.
When the soup is cooked turn off the heat then in a separate pan cook the noodles. Follow the packets instructions.
Serve the soup in a bowl over the freshly cooked noodles with the fresh coriander sprinkled over. Make sure to pick out the bay leaves and the star anise.