Bettina Campolucci Bordi
Serves: 2
Prep time: 10 mins
Cook time: 30 mins
Ingredients:
olive oil, for frying
1 small onion, finely chopped
1/2 green pepper, finely chopped
1 small carrot, finely chopped
1 tablespoon tomato purée or 3 tablespoons chopped tomatoes (it’s just for taste)
1 teaspoon coconut sugar (or dark brown sugar)
400 g butter beans (lima beans), shop-bought or cooked (about 2 tins, once drained)
2 teaspoons paprika
1/2 tablespoon chopped parsley
1/2 tablespoon chopped thyme
1 teaspoon dried mint
500 ml water
pink Himalayan salt (or sea salt) and black pepper, to taste
To serve:
home made or good-quality shop bought bread, optional
a handful of rocket (arugula), optional
Recipe kindly donated from Bettina Campolucci Bordi of Bettina's Kitchen
This soup is something I remember having when I was growing up. My grandmother was an amazing cook and passed on her skills to my mother, who in turn would make this particular soup during a Bulgarian holiday called Badni Vecher. It is a pre-Christmas tradition that has stuck with me ever since.
Method:
In a medium pan, heat some olive oil and fry the onion, pepper and carrot until nice and soft.
Next add in the tomato purée or tomatoes, (coconut) sugar, beans and all the spices and herbs and give it a good stir.
Add the water and gently simmer, covered, for 20 minutes.
Ladle out one helping of the bean soup into a bowl and mash the beans until you get a fine paste. Return the bean paste back into the pan – this will thicken it up and make it nice and creamy – and warm through, stirring.
Ladle the soup into bowls, top with rocket and enjoy with some lovely home-made bread on the side.
Great staple soup to make a big batch of and enjoy over a few days. I even think it tastes better the next day, once the ingredients have had a chance to marry.
Engaging Kids
Kids who engage regularly with veg through veg-themed activities, such as arts and crafts, sensory experiences, growing and cooking are shown to be more likely to eat the veg they engage with. Encouraging kids to engage and play with veg is the handy first step to them developing a good relationship with veg and life-long healthy eating.
Kids in the kitchen
Kids will love helping you (carefully if it’s hot!) mash the beans to go back in the soup pot, and serving up the soup in bowls.
Activities
Why not get a selection of different dried or cooked beans and lentils and try and capture the different colours, textures and shapes with colouring pencils? Or make a rainmaker with an empty, clean lidded crisp tube or milk bottle – pour in some dried beans or lentils, decorate them and seal the lid tightly before shake, shake, shaking!
Kids more interested in science? You can find at-home science fun with veg with our videos from Stefan Gates’ here.
Sensory
Why not explore beans through touch and sight? There are so many different kinds of beans and lentils. Get a few types that are a good mix in size/shape and colour, dried vs cooked, etc. and see if you can and your child can describe them. What do they look like? What colours, shapes and patterns can you see? What do they remind you of? What do they feel like? Are they rough, smooth, slimy, hard?
Find more sensory ideas, tips and videos here. If you get stuck and need a little help with describing words, we have a selection for you here, too!
Serving
While the dinner you are serving it with is cooking, ask your child to design a beautiful menu for the table, with special emphasis on “their” bean-packed meal they helped you make!
Find the best ways of involving your own child and their skills and interests on our Roles for Kids page.
Bettina Campolucci Bordi
Bettina is a self-taught chef and passionate advocate for plant-based and free-from cooking. She develops recipes for brands, hospitality, and cookbooks, including Happy Food, 7 Day Vegan Challenge, and Celebrate. Bettina also runs a Retreat Chef Academy, teaching sustainability, waste-free cooking, and seasonal, feel-good food principles.
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