Oct 23, 2009

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

24 comments:

  1. Definitely a filling, delicious and healthy soup, very innovative DIvya!

    ReplyDelete
  2. Hi,
    wheatberry sounds new to me...will surely make a shot:)

    ReplyDelete
  3. Thats such a generous and absolutely sweet thing to say Divs. I am so glad. Isnt the soup simply amazing? Love it and make it often enough - a cheeky way to sneak in whole grains :)Loved your changes too - next time I make it, I will try with your changes :)

    Hugs
    DK

    ReplyDelete
  4. hi divya, you have a great blog. never heard of wheat berries. have tried your vegetable kurma and came out great, and still continue making it at times :)

    ReplyDelete
  5. Simply yummy and healthy...
    Nice clicks too

    ReplyDelete
  6. wow, very delicious and helathy soup yaar

    ReplyDelete
  7. Thats so healthy and looks quite tempting...

    ReplyDelete
  8. I usually use sprouted wheat berries in salad. Using in soup is a great idea. Your soup sounds quite filling too.

    ReplyDelete
  9. here after a long time...was not active on blogs for sometime....
    you posted so many nice recipes in the recent past..
    this one is so healthy, completely my knid of soup n i can have it for breakfast, lunch or dinner........but i am apprehensive about cooking the sprouted wheat berries , soaked ones are good for cooking n your salad is the perfect way to eat them...( very high on antioxidants)...hope you don't mind my elaborate suggestion.
    i have one such soup with wheat berries n barley n many more grains here... http://healthfooddesivideshi.blogspot.com/2009/06/soup-which-is-bringing-me-back-to-track.html

    ReplyDelete
  10. Love it Divya, too healthy to resist, I must try these wheatberries.

    ReplyDelete
  11. I wpould love to have this soup; looks so so yummy.

    ReplyDelete
  12. healthy soup...looks delicious..please do participate in my first cooked food event..check my blog for details

    ReplyDelete
  13. That's a healthy soup recipe. Nice to know about some new foods.

    ReplyDelete
  14. Healthy soup and looks so colorful and Yummy!

    ReplyDelete

Hi..
Thanks for dropping by my blog and rendering your valuable comments..Hope you had a nice time reading my recipes..Thanks for your encouragement..