Vegetable Soup Base
I have made a lot of stuff from scratch- could I make my own soup base? I could, and I did! Not soup stock, but the stuff in jars that you just mix with water for instant broth. I wanted a no-meat soup base for when I was cooking meat-free.
I made a vegetable soup base that is a mixture of vegetables, both fresh and dried, herbs, mushrooms, nutritional yeast, spices and salt. There is pretty good amount of salt, but I wanted to be able to store it in the fridge and be safe.
It worked out that every teaspoonful of the finished base has less than 1/4 teaspoon of salt. Not great, but a lot less than bouillon cubes.
If you want to make yours with less salt or no salt- you’ll have to freeze the mixture in ice cube trays and take it out of the freezer as needed. Sort of like your own bouillon cubes.
The nice part is, I can now make a vegetable soup easily and I know exactly what is in it. It can also be added to chicken or other meat-based stocks, in place of the salt, to add extra flavor.
Homemade Vegetable Soup Base
4 carrots, peeled and cubed
3 celery ribs, washed and cubed
1 large sweet onion, peeled and cubed
3 green onions, washed and cut up
1 c. sun- dried tomatoes, soaked in water 30 minutes, and drained
1 c. dried mushrooms, soaked in water 10 minutes and drained
1 c. chopped cabbage
1 c. parsley, chopped
1/2 c. chopped sweet pepper
1/4 c. nutritional yeast, optional
2 T. turmeric
8 oz. salt- I used sea salt and used a scale to weigh it. It’s around a cup but will differ if you are using a coarse salt
Combine all ingredients, except the salt, in a food processor and blend until smooth. I have a decent size Cuisinart and still had to do this in batches. Combine in a bowl with the salt and stir well to blend. Store in a clean jar in the fridge until ready to use. I ended up with about 5 cups of soup base. To use, add about 1 teaspoonful to a cup of hot water for vegetable broth. Use less or more according to your taste. Use in place of salt in other soups, stews and sauces.
