Wheat berry Kidney bean Soup

After posting my sprouted wheat berry salad, I received a lot of questions as to what wheatberry is and where was it available. Since this is the first time I have been using using wheatberries in my diet, I would suggest visiting dear Dhivya's blog. She has loads of information about how to store, sprout and cook wheatberries and several other whole grains. I would say her blog is a one stop shop for all whole grain goodies! She even has umpteen number of whole grain recipes.

Okay! Here is a soup recipe made with wheatberries. I adopted the idea of this recipe from here, making a few changes here and there. I sprouted the wheatberries and then added it t0 my soup and salad. I would say, it is absolutely delicious and there is no compromise for the taste as well as the nutrition. It is filling and makes a whole meal when had with a slice of your favorite bread. We had this for a weeknight dinner along with some garlic bread. So here comes the recipe! The photos do not do any justice to the recipe. So pardon my photos here..


Ingredients

Wheatberries - 1/2 cup soaked overnight and sprouted
Onion - 1 large sized chopped
Kidney beans / Rajma - 1/2 cup
Potato - 1 medium sized
Garlic - 1 tablespoon chopped
Bay leaf - 1
Celery - 1 cup chopped
Tomato Salsa - 2 tablespoons
Fresh Basil leaves - 4 to 5 leaves
Oil/Butter - 1 teaspoon
Salt and Pepper

Directions
Soak the wheatberries overnight and sprout them until you see small sprouts coming out.
Wash the rajma and potato. Peel the potatoes. In a pressure cooker, boil together the potato, kidney beans and wheatberry sprouts together until about 3 whistles. Reserve the cooking liquid.
Meanwhile in a pan, heat some oil and saute the garlic and onions until translucent. Add the celery and bay leaf and soft for one more minute. Mash the pressure cooked potato roughly.
Then add the pressure cooked wheatberries, kidney beans and potato and saute for a minute. Add the cooking liquid and some water/vegetable broth.
Stir in the salsa. You could replace this with tomato paste instead.
Add the fresh basil leaves, salt and pepper.
Cover and allow it to simmer for about 15 minutes.
Sprinkle some cheese and serve with some fresh homemade bread!


Lately I have been quite busy with my graduate classes, and have very little time to cook. So am looking forward to more of cook ahead recipes and frozen recipes. Please do feel free to give your suggestions on such quick cooking and cook-ahead meals! I made a huge batch of this soup and froze it. It freezes well and retains the same taste when thawed and microwaved.

This soup recipe is off to JFI:Rajma being hosted here at Dil Se.. this month and initially started by Indira
Also sending my Rajma Kurma for the event.
Sending this to Healthy Inspirations Event - Soups