Tangy Tomato Soup and Lovely Labneh

Tangy Tomato Soup and Lovely Labneh

Do you ever struggle with the desire to have a nice hearty soup and feeling this could be your meal but it isn’t complete as you are missing the protein in your meal?

Ok, I admit, people may not be as crazy as I am, about balance in every meal but shouldn’t you be? 😊.

All you need is a few clever solutions and you are set to balance the meal to being balanced.

Most vegetable soups are great for you. Depending on how you have made them, they are full of fibre, Vitamins and minerals. And Carbohydrates. They lack sufficient protein to make it a balanced meal. So lets look at the options you have on hand.

Do you have some nuts and seeds on hand? You could roast some cashews and almonds, powder them and add them in.

Or you could use almond milk.

Another alternative could be an egg in various forms- boiled, poached, sunny side up, mixed into hot soup to become streaky.

One more fun option could be slivers of chicken added to make the soup chunky.

But today, I’d like us to consider a nice big dollop of labneh.

Labneh is cheese made from yogurt. In its purest and simplest form, it is fresh yogurt hung for a long time (and I mean a really long time ie days and days).  The resulting thick cheese is hand processed further and finally shaped and preserved in flavoured high grade olive oil.

Labneh is a great source of high quality proteins, fats and calcium.

Ok enough on protein options you can use

Ingredients:

• For tomato soup
  • 4 tomatoes, chopped
  • 2 cloves garlic
  • 2 tbsp butter
  • ½ onion sliced
  • 2 bayleaf
  • Salt to taste
  • 1 tsp sugar

• For the topping
  • Nature Nudge Creamy Labneh
  • Slice of whole meal bread, toasted and cut into crouton size
  • Green Coriander or fresh basil

Method

• Heat a pan and add the butter, let it melt fully
• Add garlic and bay leaves, saute for a minute till fragrance is released
• Add in onions, saute till pink
• Add in tomatoes, salt and sugar. Add pepper to taste if you wish.
• Cover and let tomatoes soften over low heat. May take 10 min at most.
• Uncover, add in water to thin down to desired thickness- approx. 1-1.5 cups
• Check salt and adjust as needed.
• Switch off heat and remove bayleaf carefully
• Using a hand blender, smooth the remaining mixture till fully pureed.
• If you wish, you can filter away the fibre. We have the soup full of the vegetable fibre.
• Serve into individual bowls, top with a huge dollop of labneh, toasted croutons and fresh green basil/ coriander