A healthy spicy cabbage soup in a vegetable tomato broth with broad beans and lentils. This Spicy Cabbage Broad Bean Soup is vegan, gluten-free and filled with fibre.

Ingredients in Spicy Cabbage Broad Bean Soup

• Tomato and vegetable broth

Canned stewed tomatoes along with vegetable bouillon cubes and water make up this broth

• Cabbage

You can use any type of green coloured cabbage you like! From Savoy to Napa, use whichever variety you like. I don’t suggest red cabbage as it will turn your soup an unpleasant brownish red colour (buut will still taste great!)

• Broad beans

These are also known as Fava beans. Be sure to use canned broad beans (these are cooked), or dried broad beans that you cook prior to using in a soup.

• Red Lentils

I suggest using red lentils rather than green or brown. Red lentils give a lovely almost creaminess to soups, They cook quickly and meld into the broth unlike green lentils which are firmer.

• Paprika and red pepper flakes

These spices add the heat to this soup.

• Majoram, basil and sage

For a sweet herby flavour to balance the heat.

• Garlic, salt, pepper and olive oil

Garlic is used instead of onion, along with salt & pepper, and olive oil for a touch of fattiness to bring out flavours.

What are Broad Beans?

Broad beans are a legume with a fresh, creamy texture and green hue. They grow in large pods on flowering pea plants that are harvested in the spring.

Fresh broad beans are first removed from the pod and then blanched to make the tough clear skin easy to remove. Then the fresh blanched broad beans can be used as is, or can be cooked further. They’re great boiled, steamed, stewed, mashed, sautéed, fried, or roasted!

Dried broad beans are prepared just like other dried beans. They can be soaked before cooking low and slow in plenty of water.

In this recipe we’re using canned or already cooked broad beans. Simply drain the broad beans and rinse them well under running water.

What Type of Cabbage To Use

There are hundreds of varieties of cabbage to choose from when cooking! Green cabbage is the most common type of cabbage, and the one I recommend for this Spicy Cabbage Broad Bean Soup.

Green cabbage has densely packed thick leaves, with the outer leaves being medium to light green then the inner leaves fading from pale green to white in the centre. Cooked green cabbage has a sweeter taste with less spiciness than when it is raw. The slight sweetness goes well in this recipe, balancing out the spiciness of the red pepper flakes.

You can instead use any type of green cabbage in this recipes, such as Savoy cabbage. This other type of green cabbage has crinkly tender leaves and a more mild taste than Green cabbage.

Savoy cabbages, like Green cabbage keep their colour even during cooking, so it will not turn your soup a strange colour like a red cabbage would.