Minestrone soup

                               Me and my husband are great fan of soups. Where ever we go, we used to order soup along with an appetizer. I have tasted soups in indian and chinese restaurants but first time in my life i tasted a different soup in an Italian restaurant ,Olive garden. The soup is bit thick and has lots of ingredients in it. Taste it different . I love the salad and soup they serve in Olive garden.  Single bowl along with toasted bread ,fills the stomach. So far, i love the soup,breadstick, bruschetta and salad,they serve in Olive garden. On my next visit, i will taste this soup without fail.

Ingredients:

Onion - 1 small

Garlic - 2 cloves

Carrot - 1

Beans - 7 nos

Cauliflower - 1/2 cup

Cabbage - 1/2 cup

Kidney bean - 1/4 cup

Channa - 1/4 cup

Spinach - 1 cup

Diced tomato - 1/2 cup

Tomato puree - 1 cup

Vegetable stock - 1 cup

Macaroni pasta - 1/2 cup

Crushed pepper - 4 tbsp

Oregano - 2 tbsp

Cheese - 5 tbsp

Salt - as per taste

* I don't have macaroni pasta in stock,so i added normal egg pasta while preparing this dish.

Recipe:

* Chop onion and garlic into very fine pieces.

* Chop all the vegetables into medium size pieces.

* Soak kidney bean and channa for 7 hours.

* Chop spinach in strips.

1.Cook  kidney bean and channa in a cooker for 3 whistle.

2. Take water in a pan and bring to boil.Add all the vegetables and half cook it.Keep the water and use it as vegetable stock.

3.Cook pasta and strain water and transfer to a bowl.

4. In a large pan, heat up olive oil in medium heat. Once it hot,add onion and finely chopped garlic. Fry till they are translucent. Add half cooked vegetables and stir. Now add tomato puree,dices tomato,vegetable stock and add crushed pepper,oregano and salt. Cover the pan and cook for 10 minutes. Once it starts to boil,add cooked kidney bean,channa,spinach. Cover and cook for 5 more minutes. Check the consistency, add water according to it.Cook for 2 more minutes and switch off the flame.

5. While serving, take a soup bowl. Add cooked pasta first and pour soup on top. Finally garnish with shredded cheese or crumbled cheese.

                      Serve with toasted french loaf bread.

Note :

* Add any type of vegetables like zuccini, broccoli, celery .

* While serving for my kid,i just added a small spoon of tomato sauce to make sweeter.

* My son love garlic bread,so i made garlic bread using french loaf and had it with soup. It gave a different taste than normal bread.

* This soup along with toasted bread will fill the stomach.