Darshana Thacker Wendel
Darshana Thacker Wendel is a whole-food, plant-based chef and former culinary projects manager for Forks Over Knives. A graduate of the Natural Gourmet Institute, she is the author of Forks Over Knives: Flavor! She created the recipes for Forks Over Knives Family and was a lead recipe contributor to the New York Times bestseller The Forks Over Knives Plan. Her recipes have been published in The Prevent and Reverse Heart Disease Cookbook, Forks Over Knives—The Cookbook, Forks Over Knives: The Plant-Based Way to Health, and LA Yoga magazine online. Visit DarshanasKitchen.com and follow her on Instagram for more.
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Comments (39)
Love this soup. It will become my main stay soup. I added cilantro, carrots and chicken ( for my husband).
I used frozen spinach instead of kale leaves. great soup.
Yummy, comforting and super easy. This soup makes me happy. It was so nice and manageable to cook after work. This will be part of my rotation, thank you for sharing
this soup is amazing my son and i really enjoy it
the soup was so refreshing light and enjoyable
it was raining this weekend just wanted some soup perfect!
Also, my kale needed more time to cook, so will add it at the same time as the potatoes.
This soup is hearty and very quick to make (even on a primitive camping trip)! But it lacks some pizazz. Next time I make it, I’ll double the oregano, and add a can of diced tomatoes with basil + garlic to amp up the flavor. Maybe a squeeze of lemon too. Thanks to other commenters for the ideas!
Very good recipe. Do not recommend butter beans/small lima beans (Eden) because of bitterness. Added some maple syrup to compensate. Subbed baby spinach for kale.
This soup is delicious! I exchanged the white beans for fresh cut green beans….very pretty and also tasty!
I made this two nights ago and love it. So flavorful as written, and the crusty bread was perfect!
This was just beyond delicious I added the juice of one lemon after removing from the heat and it was wildly tasty.
Do you saute the first five ingredients in olive oil? It looks yummy. I need to eat vegan so this will be my first try!
Thank you for any help.
Just in water, or broth. It’s easier than it sounds!
There is no oil on the Forks Over Knives plan.
This soup recipe is delicious and easy to make, even on a work night. Customization is simple, too. I used a variety of rehydrated mushrooms with a tablespoon of Trader Joe’s Unami spice blend and fresh carrots. Using the mushroom-soaking liquid and the spice blend gave the soup an earthy depth of flavor. I will definitely make this again. Thanks for the inspiration.
I have digestive problems with garlic. I usually sauté my veggies in a bit of garlic infused olive oil from Trader Joe’s. Is there a substitute for garlic and how much should be used?
Sally, if you are looking for a substitute for garlic, see if you can get some asafetida, also known as hing powder. It tends to be sold in Asian grocery stores. The powder does not smell like garlic, but don’t be fooled. It tastes like a mix of garlic and onion. It does not contain any garlic or onion, it is made from some kind of sap, so it should be safe for you to eat. You can add it when you add the other dry spices.
I have a family member sensitive to garlic. Shallots are the closest I’ve found as an acceptable substitute. I’d probably use 1/4 cup (Or more if you have some left) minced shallots. I generally go 2~3 times the amount of shallots as garlic)
cooking in the solar cooker. smells great
I made this recipe for the first time today. Tasty. Very excellent. My husband is extremely picky. He thought it was delicious and wants to see it again!
I made a similar soup with the same ingredients w brown rice instead of potatoes just yesterday! Very tasty!
Super quick and easy! And so delicious! We doubled the recipe. Really glad we did as it just fed four hungry people. We subbed spinach for the kale because that’s what we had.
Can you substitute spinach for kale?
Yes. Many leafy greens substitute well for each other.
This recipe rated a “heart” on it so that I would remember how much we loved it the first time I made it. I’ll be making it again tonight!
I was hoping someone could give me an answer to this question… What’s the point of “sautéing” vegetables when you aren’t using oil? I rarely bother, just toss my ingredients into the Instant pot. I never noticed much of a difference, what am I missing?
Sautéing helps the caramelization of the onions and the release of flavors in the mushrooms to develop and infuse the deeper flavors into the potato.
I do not bother with sauteing either. My food turns out just fine, instant pot or regular pot.
I’m going to have to try the instant pot version. What settings do you use? Thanks
Sometimes when I’m in a hurry I just throw everything in the pot (Instant or otherwise) — it’s still good. When I want to it be great, though, I use the dry sauté technique. Dry sautéing requires a bit of courage, but I think it’s even better than water sautéing. I found that after some practice, I learned what burner setting was best and how my pot responds and how much water the different vegetables release as they heat. I learned not freak out when the bottom of the pot starts to brown, although that’s definitely the time to add the liquid to deglaze it.
Sautéing the vegetable before adding them to the soup develops their individual flavors more than simply tossing them in. And, in answer to the other part of your question about oil – you might want to learn the technique of a ‘water’ or ‘wet’ sauté. It’s taught as part of the Forks Over Knives/Rouxbe plant-based culinary course (online). Once you learn this technique you’ll be amazed at the depth of flavors you can achieve with individual ingredients, and then add them to the rest and “wow”!
This soup is wonderful! Very easy and tastes delicious! I used golden potatoes instead of russet! I love their creamy texture! Lots of soup for leftovers. I will absolutely make this again.
Substituted red kidney beans left out mushrooms, added grape tomatoes some sliced in half and some while, tomato paste . Delicious. Doubled the batch ,cooked in crockpot on high for 4hours. !!!Will definitely keep in my favorite soup recipes.!⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐
It was a raining tonight and I wanted a quick soup. This soup was simple and fairly quick. It filled the bill for a fall evening and was delicious. I found it in the Forks Over Knives app I have in my phone. So convenient!
Love this soup!!! Its soooo yummy. Ireplaced the white beans with chickpeas and I added selerystalks and 1 big tomato… even better.
Thank you!
Protein amount?
This soup was very yummy! I didn’t have fresh mushrooms, so had to use canned and I used frozen kale. I also didn’t have russet potatoes, so used sweet potatoes. My husband and I loved it! Thanks for the recipes!!
Super delicious soup! I added some tomato paste for that extra ‘minestrone’ taste 🙂
So delicious. Added in a few chopped tomatoes, just because they were in the fridge anyway.
Super delicious. Easy to make.
Easy and very tasty. I’m not much of a kale person but this soup was very good.