We ate these big bowls of soup a couple of days ago. I took pictures of the process as it's the first time I make soup with mushrooms and broccoli. In my hometown, we call this a "sopón," which literally means big soup. The one I've cooked for you today is a plant based version, and to my surprise, this is definitely my favorite so far. My husband was amazed, too. We loved it.

This big bowl of sup had a substantious red lentil broth with potatoes, and ripe plantain, Besides, I topped it with sauteed broccoli, mushrooms, and a little red bell pepper, plus bread slices I'd *fried in oil with crushed garlic.

I have a love-hate relationship with broccoli, as I can't live without it, but it makes me suffer. I always buy it when I see it's fresh, but no matter how fresh it is, I must always use my magnifying glass.

I've always been extremely careful to clean it well, and this takes me some time; the beautiful little bright green worms that are among its florets like to find their way to the cooking pot; I don't let them 🤠

Then I wash it and cut it into pieces and store it in various ways in my fridge and freezer, since a whole one is always too much for the two of us at home.

I'm one of those who prefer the flavor and texture of its stem and leaves as much as the heads.

As a cruciferous vegetable, broccoli is packed with vitamins and minerals, among which vitamin C has my special attention (because of its relevance to our inmune system); it’s also rich in bioactive compounds. I always steam it just a little or eat it raw to avoid reducing vitamin C. This time I sautéed a little the heads for the soup and steamed the rest a little to store it half in the freezer and half in the fridge.

I needed enough vegetables and mushrooms for two people. I was going to use a cup of red lentils, which I like a lot, as I don't have to use my pressure cooker, only one medium sized pot to cook all the ingredients of the soup. Less work.

For the soup base:

• 1 cup broken red lentils
• 4 cups water
• bay leaves
• 2 tablespoons garlic
• 1/3 cup chili peppers
• 1/2 cup red bell pepper
• 1 cup yellow onion
• salt to taste
• 1 cup diced potatoes
• 1 cup chopped ripe plantain
• a little olive oil
• salt to taste
• cracked black pepper to taste

Toppings:

• 2 cups broccoli
• 2 cups mushrooms
• a few slices of whole wheat bread
• some garlic cloves and a little olive oil to fry the bread

I used homemade bread that I had frozen a couple of days before 😀

The bay leaves I picked were not too big. I used three.

I washed well and peeled the onion and garlic; I also washed half a medium red pepper and five chilies. I crushed the garlic in the mortar and the volume was about two tablespoons.

After washing the vegetables well and cutting them into small pieces, I sautéed them in a tablespoon of olive oil, along with the bay leaves. The cooking time was about 3 minutes.

Then, I added the water, lentils, salt, and garlic. I let this simmer for a couple of minutes before adding the potato and plantain.

I cut the potato into cubes of about 1 cm and the plantain into slices of about 1 cm and then cut each slice in half, all in pieces small enough to fit in a spoonful of soup.

While the soup was cooking now with all the ingredients in the pot, I prepared the toppings. The soup would take no more than 10 minutes to be ready. Then I had to let it sit for 10 more minutes.

For long minutes, I rummaged through the hiding places of each floret with my super vision, my magnifying glass eyes. Then I washed the broccoli pieces under the tap and then with filtered water and a splash of apple cider vinegar, which I left to act for a couple of minutes.

I washed the mushrooms and retired the hard parts--I soak these parts in water, wash them clean and use them in other preparations (e.g.vegetable creams)--; I cut the mushrooms into pieces of about 3 cm.

Broccoli and mushrooms went into the wok...

...along with a few pieces of red bell pepper I had saved to give the soup a merrier look. I added some salt, too.

The red bell pepper pieces went first, as I didn't want to cook the broccoli and mushrooms much, only a minute.

I used the same wok to add some olive oil and heat it a bit to simmer some crushed garlic cloves. I then added the bread slices in the wok and then took them out and finished cooking them in the air-fryer. They turned out super crispy. I needed them to not get mushy inside the soup.

It was finally time to assemble the bowl of soup with toppings.

First, the red lentil soup. The broth had a amazing aroma and slightly thick texture and sweet taste.

Then I placed the sauteed broccoli and mushrooms. And finally, the bread.

The bowl of soup was full! It was a very pretty picture and fun to look at. And how delicious it was! The broccoli was crispy and soft, the mushroom pieces were meaty and juicy, and the bread melted in your mouth. This soup goes to a special place in my heart; we will definitely be eating it often.

Bon appetit!

Thank you so much for your visit :)

All text and images are my own. I have taken the pictures with my Redmi 9T cell phone. And if any GIFs here, I've used GIPHY(https://giphy.com/create/gifmaker) for all them.