Beetroot Soup

Beetroot! Wholesome, earthy and nutritionally impressive. Part of the same family as chard and spinach and it's pretty much the bomb diggity. It's got a super distinctive flavour and it's pretty un-beet-able when it comes to goodness.

So what's so great about it?

From top to bottom, you can eat it all up! The greens are just bursting with calcium, iron and Vitamins A and C. The root is a great source of folic acid, fibre, manganese and potassium. You can eat it raw, cooked or pickled! Not only is it jam-packed with goodness, it's used for healing too! Beetroots are used primarily to help liver disorders, by helping to stimulate the detoxification process. I know, it's crazy clever!

Beetroot is also packed with fibre which helps prevent constipation and lowers cholesterol levels. They are one of the richest sources of glutamine, an amino acid, essential to a healthy intestinal tract. Even more...The pigment that gives beetroot its gorgeous rich colour is betacyanin which is thought to suppress the development of some types of cancer. Pretty impressive stuff this Beetroot!

Now if that doesn't want to make you eat beetroot then I don't know what will. So without further ado, I'm going to show you how to make an absolutely sensational beetroot soup that is just a little bit perfect and can be enjoyed hot or cold.

Plus, as always, it takes almost no time and is as simple as can be!

Ingredients

3-4 beetroot

500g tomatoes

2 cloves garlic

1 medium onion

2 tsps grated chilli (optional)

1 tsp garam masala

Salt and pepper

500ml stock

Feta cheese

Method

1. Make sure the beetroot is cooked (easiest way round this is buy pre-cooked beetroot) or boil it up! Wash and trim the beetroot, but don't peel. Place in a large saucepan and cover with around 2cm of water. Bring to the boil, then reduce to a simmer until the beetroot is tender. This usually takes around 30 mins. Peel the skins off once cooled down and chop it up into smaller pieces.

2. Warm some coconut oil in a saucepan over a medium heat. Pop in the onions and garlic and cook for about five minutes. Stir in chopped beetroot, chilli and spices and cook for a couple of minutes.

3. Stir in the stock and season with salt and pepper. Bring to the boil, cover and simmer until the beetroot is tender (around 30 minutes).

4. Take off the heat and put soup into a food processor or mash it up and then gently heat it through.

5. Serve and sprinkle with feta cheese

Easiest AND tastiest soup ever? Erm, yup!