Thick comforting cabbage soup

My granny would make this cabbage soup often in the winter. She would say to me “it’s easy, you put everything in a casserole and you let it simmer, nothing to do.” And it is true, or almost! She had time for everything my granny.

Here is an updated version of her recipe: a bit quicker, no meat and with an extra ingredient that was not available to my grand mother at the time – ginger. It has the power to twist your dish and spice it a bit without making it hot like chilli would do for example.

Servings: 7-8. Total time: from 2h to 3h 30 min (preparation 30 min, cooking can varie from 1h 30min to 3h, depending on the cabbage variety and the casserole type you use)

INGREDIENTS (organic)

1 Cabbage (Savoy or Chinese or white cabbage. The white needs longer cooking time)
2 Carrots (medium)
1 Onion (big)
1 Leek
3-4 Garlic cloves (medium)
2 cm of fresh Ginger
1 Apple (magic ingredient)
4 tablespoons of Olive oil
1,5 – 2l of Water
1 level tablespoon of Turmeric
1 level tablespoon of mild Paprika powder
2 dry Laurel leaves
1 teaspoon of dry Thyme
1 teaspoon of dry Parsley
3-4 pinches of coarse unrefined Salt (or more if you prefer saltier)
1 teaspoon of dry Celery
1 small dozen of Chickpeas per serving (optional)

PREPARATION

1. Peel and wash carrots, onion and leek. Chop the onion finely and cut the carrots and the leek in 2-3mm thick slices. Stir them together with olive oil on a medium temperature in a big casserole dish for about 10 minutes. I use a pressure cooker, it shortens the soup cooking time.
2. Peel and wash garlic and ginger. Chop them very thinly and add them to the casserole with salt and turmeric and simmer for another 10 minutes. The onions should turn translucent and the leek soft.
3. In the meantime pluck out exterior cabbage leaves if they are damaged or faded and wash the cabbage. Chop it in half and cut out the white hard part in the middle of each half (not necessary for Chinese cabbage). Cut the halves in 3-4 cm dice and add them to the casserole together with thyme, parsley, celery, paprika and laurel.
   As this hard middle part is very long to cook you can eat it raw as you would eat a raw carrot. It is bursting with vitamine C!
4. Wash and grate one whole apple without peeling it directly in the casserole. It is my mum’s (and she is a chef) magic ingredient that adds more flavour and vitamines to this super healthy soup. 
5. Pour the water to cover the vegetables completely, without drowning them. Cover the casserole and let it cook at medium temperature. It would take around 1h 30 minutes for a Chinese cabbage to cook in a pressure cooker and up to 3h for a white cabbage in a “normal” casserole. At the end, the cabbage should be soft and not crunchy.

If everybody who would eat the soup likes chickpeas, add them (already cooked) 10-15 minutes before the end of cooking so they can suck in the flavours of the soup. If not add them directly to a plate. Let it cool a bit before eating in order to better enjoy its rich and comforting taste.