I got this recipe from a friend, and my friend got it from her friend’s friend, who is a dietitian. Strictly speaking it is not a recipe; rather, an idea for adding more flavors and nutrients to a vegetable soup containing common ingredients as celery, carrot, and onion.

The idea is simply to add cashew nuts to the soup. But driven by my habit, I included bay leaves, black peppers and garlic to spice up the soup. From the very first time hubby and I ate the soup, we had enjoyed it very much. Yet I have to thank and tell the ladies that the soup has become a regular dish on our table since then.

We first ate the soup on its own, then I also had it used as a stock, and even as a broth for noodles. The noodle soup I recently cooked for myself was made with some leftovers of this soup, a bunch of chopped coriander, and a few pieces of tofu, which were pan-fried with crisp crusts and served with a dollop of chili sauce. I might have doubt whether or not the dish, having such flavors and textures, was vegetarian if I had not made it myself.

I don’t even need to add any oil to boiling the wheat noodles to make them smooth because the cashew nuts have already greased (and flavored) the soup lightly after hours of boil. Yet in that 5 to 6 hours, it was my slow cooker did the whole task after I dumped in all ingredients.

• Ingredients
• 500g celery (stalks), cleaned and sliced crosswise
• 250g carrots, peeled, halved lengthwise and sliced
• 1 onion, skinned, thinly sliced lengthwise
• ~60g cashew nuts
• 2 dried bay leaves
• 4-5 cloves garlic, lightly crushed
• 2-3 slices ginger
• 1/2 tsp black peppers, crushed
• ~6 cups of water
• 1/2 tsp coarse black pepper, or to taste
• a bunch of coriander, optional
• salt to taste

Enjoy!