Don Diego's Caribbean Vegetable Soup

Ingredients for 4 servings:

• 30 g butter
• 1 medium-sized onion(s), finely diced
• 2 carrots, sliced
• 30 g lentils, brown, soaked if possible
• 2 bay leaves
• 1 tsp thyme
• 1 tbsp parsley, finely chopped
• 1 ½ liters vegetable broth
• 1 stalk(s) celery, finely chopped
• 250 g cassava, peeled and cut into pieces
• 1 chayote, peeled and cut into bite-sized pieces
• 1 sweet potato(s) (Boniato), peeled, halved and sliced
• 1 green banana(s) (plantain), peeled and sliced
• 1 banana(s) (plantain), yellow (Plátano maduro), peeled and sliced

Instructions

Working time approx. 30 minutes; Cooking/baking time approx. 45 minutes; Total time approx. 1 hour 15 minutes

Caribbean vegetable stew for treasure hunters

Soups are a topic in their own right in the New World. They make the locals happy and drive European guests to despair when, ignorant of local customs, they categorize a soup on the menu as a starter. “Soups” or “sopas” are rarely still waters. Often they are generously portioned stews in which one can go treasure hunting with a spoon. The “Caribbean Vegetable Soup” also falls into this category. The “main course,” ordered in advance, remains purely a matter of opinion, because the stomach has already closed from overfilling after the soup. Melt butter in a large pot and sauté the finely chopped onion. Press in the garlic, add the carrot slices and lentils, and stir everything thoroughly. Then pour in the broth, don’t forget the bay leaves, thyme, and parsley, and heat it. As soon as the broth boils, add the remaining vegetables: celery, green and ripe plantains, cassava, sweet potato, and chayote. Season with salt and pepper and simmer for about 25 minutes. Serve with rolled spring onions. It may be a bit difficult to obtain the typical root vegetables and plantains, especially all at once. If you don’t have cassava, yams will do. Boniato can be substituted with other sweet potatoes, and why not slice a kohlrabi if you absolutely can’t find chayote? However, the regional Caribbean connection would be lost if neither roots nor plantains or sweet potatoes were available. Ask your local greengrocer for advice or ask your math teacher. They always had a solution for roots.