I eat soup pretty much every single day. I know that may sound odd to some, but it’s become somewhat of a family tradition as far back as I know. I don’t have any medical proof, but I’m certain that eating that much soup is a big reason as to why I’m hardly ever sick. This is the very first soup I’ve ever made on my own beyond dirt soups in my backyard as a child. I suppose it’s not really necessary to say there’s been a huge improvement. My uncle made this soup when I was in Poland a couple years ago and I loved it so much, I asked him to show me how it’s made.

Ingredients:

5 potatoes
4 carrots
1 onion
2 cloves garlic
Fresh tomatoes
Peppers
2 cans red kidney beans
1 jar tomato sauce
1 can sweet corn
1 can sweet peas
Chili pepper powder or other kind of spicy sauce/powder
Basil or oregano
Salt + Pepper
Olive oil

First, get a large pot in which the soup will be in and pour in enough water to cover the potatoes and carrots. Salt the water a bit and turn the stove on hot to boil the water. Cube the carrots since they’ll take the longest to cook and then cube the potatoes and toss all of that into the pot of boiling water, turning the heat down a bit.
Once that is done, peel and chop the onion. Put the onion into a frying pan with hot olive oil and turn the heat down to medium. Peel and mince the garlic and toss that into the frying pan. Salt and pepper the onions and garlic. Make sure to keep mixing to not burn the onion and garlic.
This is not a necessary step, but I find the soup tastes better with fresh tomatoes. So, if you’d like, chop as many tomatoes as you’d like and put them in the frying pan. I put anywhere from 1-5. I just choose the softest tomatoes that I worry won’t make it much longer. Also optional, you may chop and put in peppers (1-2).
Check the carrots and potatoes that they are perfectly cooked (I usually take out one piece of carrot and one piece of potato to see if it’s soft enough to eat, hopefully not overcooked). When the onions look golden, pour everything from the frying pan into the pot. Pour in the jar of tomato sauce (I use a jar of 680g/24oz plain tomato sauce) and the two cans of red kidney beans making sure to add all of the liquid from the cans (sometimes, when I am making something that requires just red kidney beans and no liquid, I keep the leftover liquid from the cans to use for this soup because it adds a lot to the taste). To not waste anything, I pour some water into the tomato sauce jar, shake it, and pour it onto the oily frying pan. I then pour the frying pan into the soup. Add the sweet corn and sweet peas (liquid included). I finish up the soup with salt, pepper, either basil or oregano, and some kind of spicy powder of sauce (when I have it on hand, I put in just a bit of spicy sauce, but lately I’ve been using a bit of chili powder and cayenne pepper. If you’ve never cooked with spices before, I caution you to use just a pinch because these ingredients can be very strong). Put a few more drops olive oil into the soup, mix well, let it cook everything just a few minutes longer and you’re done.

If you make this soup, please tell me what variations you used to make it taste just right!