Energy Soup! Red Kale Broth with Mango-Ginger Puree

This tasty soup is truly a marvelous "meal-in-a-bowl". It's an energy soup packed with nutrition. Vitamins, minerals, and protein blend in a flavourful combination of red kale, mandarin orange, cucumber, mango, ginger root and sunflower plus pumpkin seeds. An eye-catching dish, the red kale broth is swirled with tropical mango-ginger puree, and topped with crunchy green pepper and nutty hemp hearts. Try this soup at lunchtime, and notice your sustained, even energy over the course of the afternoon. You'll like the well-being generated by this "serve-at-room-temperature blender/food processor" recipe that's quick and easy to make, and a delight to enjoy.

You'll need:

For Red Kale Broth:

6-10 stalks of red kale; 1 cucumber; 1 mandarin orange; 1/2 cup sunflower seeds, soaked 2 hours; 1/4 cup pumpkin seeds, soaked 2 hours; 1/4 cup water; salt

For Mango-Ginger Puree:

1 small golden mango; 1 inch piece of ginger root; 1 teaspoon curry powder; 1/2 teaspoon turmeric; salt

For Garnish: Green pepper; hemp hearts

Method:

For Red Kale Broth: Wash kale and remove leaves in small pieces from center stalk. Set stalks aside for another use. Lightly salt kale leaves with pink Himalayan sea salt. 

Peel cucumber and chop into sections; peel and section mandarin, removing any visible seeds from orange.

Put 1/4 cup of water in the blender, add soaked, drained sunflower and pumpkin seeds. Blend into a thick puree. Add kale by the handful, alternating with cucumber chunks and mandarin orange pieces. Blend until thick and smooth.

Pour a generous amount of red kale broth into individual serving bowls. Cover and set aside at room temperature.

For Mango-Ginger Puree:

Peel and pit mango. Cut into large pieces. Chop ginger root into chunks. Put mango and ginger into blender with 1 teaspoon curry powder, and 1/2 teaspoon turmeric. Puree until smooth and silky. Slice thin slivers of green pepper for garnish.

Pour mango-ginger puree on top of red kale broth, swirling it into a pattern.

Place thin green pepper slices in center of bowl on top of puree. Dust with hemp hearts and serve. Enjoy this energy soup with crackers or crusty rolls. At my house, it was served with a small plate of rice-stuffed grape leaves, and baba ganoush!

For thoughts about food, visit zen-cuisine