Hello and Happy Sunday! Hope your’e having a relaxing weekend. Today I’d like to share this warming hearty soup made with my favorite spice – turmeric!

Inspired by the Persian rice dish sabzi polo

This soup is a variation of the Persian dish sabzi polo which is typically made with rice and lots of fresh herbs such as parsley, cilantro, tarragon and dill. In this version the same ingredients are turned into a soup with the added goodness of turmeric.

Turmeric!

What gives this soup the beautiful golden color is turmeric. This super power spice gives the soup its golden hue and flavors the soup nicely along with cumin, onions and garlic. Can’t go wrong with this combo of flavor boosters!

Leftover rice with the added goodness of greens

This is the perfect soup when you have leftover rice. In the original recipe from Real Simple magazine the rice is cooked in the broth but if you have leftover rice that works perfectly in here too. And if you don’t have spinach improvise and use any greens of your choice. I used a bunch of Swiss chard.

All about fresh herbs

The other main ingredients in this recipe is lots of fresh herbs. Use any combination you want. I used mint and cilantro and parsley because that’s what I had, but you can add whatever fresh herbs you have like dill and tarragon as well.

Hearty soup

What makes this soup so filling and hearty is the potatoes and rice. I mean carbs and carbs – haha. But seriously these two ingredients give the soup some heft filling you up nicely event though its actually on the lighter side. With lots of spinach the soup covers the good for you greens ingredients too.

Turmeric Spiced Spinach and Rice Potato Soup
with inspiration from Real Simple Magazine

Ingedients:

1 cup leftover rice
4 medium potatoes skin removed and cut into bite size cubes
1 large onion finely chopped
4 cloves garlic diced
1 tsp turmeric powder
1 tsp cumin powder
4-5 cups spinach finely chopped or any greens of your choice
5 cups vegetable broth or water
Salt
1 tsp brown sugar
Olive Oil
1 cup fresh herbs of your choice finely chopped
Juice of 1 lemon

Directions:

In a large pot warm 2 tbsp olive oil. To the oil shallow fry the onions and garlic until the onions are tender. Then add the turmeric powder and cumin powder. To the spices add the potatoes and salt to taste. Shallow fry for 3-5 minutes then add the broth and bring to a boil. Lower the heat and cook the potatoes until tender.

Next add the cooked rice and all the greens plus sugar. Cook for an additional 5 minutes. Turn the stove off.

Add the fresh herbs and fresh lemon juice. Taste and adjust for salt if needed. Soup is ready.

Serve warm with fresh herbs.