Super Green Soup

Super Green Soup

We make this Super Green Soup on repeat, especially when we need something that actually makes us feel good from the inside out. It's got that brilliant combination of kale, broccoli and leek with a proper kick of chilli and ginger that warms you right up. The tofu adds a lovely bit of body so it's genuinely filling, not just a bowl of hot water with leaves in it. Ready in 15 minutes, it's the kind of lunch that makes you feel like you've really done something for yourself without spending half the afternoon in the kitchen. Honestly, trust us on this one, it's a weekday game changer.

Cook: 15 min
Serves 2

Before You Start

  • Large saucepan
  • Immersion blender
  • High-powered blender
  • Microplane or fine grater
  • Airtight container

Ingredients

  • 1 tbsp olive oil
  • 2 tsp soy sauce
  • 2 tsp mirin
  • 1 leek
  • 1 red chilli
  • 2 garlic cloves
  • 3cm ginger
  • 200g kale
  • 300g baby spinach
  • 300g broccoli
  • Juice of 1 lemon
  • 1 x 300g block of silken tofu
  • 1 litre vegetable stock
  • 100g soba noodles

Method

1

Prepare the veggies

  • Trim and finely slice the leek
  • Trim, de-seed and finely slice the red chilli
  • Peel and grate the garlic and ginger
  • Trim, wash and roughly chop the the kale
  • Break the broccoli into florets and dispose of the stalk
  • Zest and juice the lemon
  • Break up the tofu
  • Prepare the stock
2

Start cooking

  • Heat the oil in a large saucepan over a medium-high heat
  • Add the leek and cook, stirring for 2–3 minutes until tender
  • Add the red chilli, garlic, ginger and and stir for a further 2 minutes
3

Add the veggies and liquids

  • Pour the stock into the pan, bring it to the boil and reduce the heat to a gentle simmer
  • Add the broccoli and cook for 2-3 minutes until tender
  • Remove the pan from the heat and leave to cool for 10 minutes (the liquid should be lukewarm)
  • Add the kale, spinach, tofu, lemon juice and zest, soy sauce and mirin to the pan and gently fold it into the liquid to wilt the leaves
  • When the leaves have shrunk in size by roughly half, use an immersion blender to blend the contents of the pan to a smooth, creamy consistency (we recommend transferring the soup to a high powered blender to finish the job and get the soup super smooth)
  • Transfer the soup back to the pot and bring to a gentle simmer
  • Taste the soup and season to perfection with salt and pepper and chilli flakes
4

For the noodles

  • Prepare half the soba noodles as instructed on the back of the packet
  • Have a pan of cold water ready to transfer the cooked noodles into so they don’t stick together
  • Layer the noodles and half the soup, one layer at a time so the noodles are well covered but don’t clump together
  • Transfer the remaining soup to an airtight container and place in the fridge for lunch later in the week
  • Prepare the remaining noodles on the day you eat the remaining soup

Tips & Variations

  • Use the broccoli stalk: We know we said to dispose of it in the method, but honestly if you peel off the tough outer bit and dice the stalk finely, it cooks down brilliantly and means less waste. Henry always chucks it in.
  • Dial up the heat: If you like things spicy, keep some of the chilli seeds in. Ian usually does and says it takes the whole thing up a notch on a cold day.
  • Blend it smooth: If you prefer a creamy soup rather than a chunky one, just blitz the whole thing with a hand blender before serving. It goes a gorgeous deep green colour and feels really luxurious.

Why This Works

The trick here is getting the aromatics right. Grating the garlic and ginger fresh rather than using a paste makes a massive difference to the depth of flavour, and cooking the leek down properly in that first step builds a really solid base. The lemon zest and juice at the end is what brings everything together and lifts all those greens into something that tastes genuinely bright and vibrant.