Chunks of hearty flavor

“Why do you make chunky soups so often?” my mother once asked. My short answer was that they’re practical. For me, a hearty, vegetable-rich soup is the ultimate convenience food. When I have a big pot of soup on hand, I know the centerpiece of our meal is ready and I can get supper on the table in short order.

I picked up this custom from Rachel Levy, my Yemen-born mother-in-law. In her household, a hearty soup with chunks of meat and vegetables was the mainstay of meals. It was aromatic and flavorful from the warm spices of cumin, turmeric and plenty of pepper, and we savored it with generous quantities of fresh pita or dark bread.

Ease and speed in serving are not the only reasons I like soup. I enjoy a main course with the different tastes, textures and colors of several vegetables cooked together. Naturally, with a variety of ingredients comes a great range of nutrients. By using a selection of vegetables, beans and grains to make soups, I make sure my suppers are always interesting, and yet I don’t have many pots to clean afterward.

Most people use onions, carrots, potatoes and celery in their soups, but other kinds of vegetables are worth including, too. Orange-fleshed, hard-shelled squashes add sweetness, richness and color. Legumes make soups satisfying and contribute protein and fiber. Mushrooms give soups depth of flavor, almost as if they contained meat. When added near the end of the soup’s cooking time, leafy greens add a bright color and a wealth of beneficial substances. Serving them in soup, where they mingle with the broth, noodles and other components, is an effective way to encourage family members to eat their greens.

As the vegetables cook, they give me an added bonus - a flavorful, natural broth, so I don’t have to use commercial packaged broths or spend hours cooking soup bones. Even when I’m cooking vegetables for other purposes, I save their broth to use in my soups.

Soups make it easy to introduce whole grains into daily menus. You can simmer brown rice, bulgur wheat or other grains in the soup, or cook them separately and spoon some into each bowl.

Naturally, vegetables and grains are only the beginning of the soup story. Meats and poultry of all types bestow flavor to soups. In fact, soup-making is one of the most economical ways to enjoy meat, as you don’t need much to flavor a pot of soup. This fact is well-known to cooks around the world, from Europe to East Asia, where noodle soups with colorful vegetables and small amounts of meat are lunchtime favorites.

For my soups, I often start with a classic like minestrone, include a healthy proportion of seasonal vegetables and vary the seasonings according to my fancy. Many traditional soups from different parts of the globe could be considered variations of this formula and essentially contain the nutritious ingredients recommended in the Department of Agriculture’s dietary guidelines.

A chunky North African vegetable soup presented by Khadidja Obeida, author of “253 Recettes de Cuisine Algerienne,” has an ingredients list quite similar to that of minestrone: onions, carrots, potatoes, zucchini, tomatoes, noodles and dried beans. She uses chickpeas or fava beans instead of Italian white cannellini beans, and different flavorings - her rich broth is made from lamb cubes seasoned with paprika, cinnamon and fiery harissa and is finished with cilantro and mint. Miss Obeida also makes meatless variations of the soup with fresh fava beans or with coarse-grained couscous or bulgur wheat instead of noodles.

In Eastern Europe, vegetable soups with grains are also popular and, although they taste different, follow the same basic formula. According to Lesley Chamberlain, author of “The Food and Cooking of Eastern Europe,” a Polish barley-vegetable soup called krupnik is very popular. Made of root vegetables and dried mushrooms cooked in meat stock, it is finished with parsley and dill. A Polish-Russian soup called barszcz, which we know as borscht, calls for white beans cooked with chopped mixed vegetables, beets, potatoes and tomato puree and is embellished with sour cream, fresh dill and chives. For Dubrovnik minestrone, pieces of garlic sausage cook in a soup of mixed vegetables and potatoes. To make a Romanian meatball-and-vegetable soup called ciorba, Miss Chamberlain simmers root vegetables, celery, green peppers, tomatoes and thyme in meat stock, adds small meatballs and flavors the soup with sauerkraut juice and sour cream. The soup is served with mamaliga, the Romanian polenta.

All these soups are flexible in their components, as people choose vegetables according to what’s available at the market. Sprinkling in chopped fresh herbs at the last minute seems to be a universal culinary custom, whether the cook is on the Mediterranean shores, in Northern Europe or in East Asia.

Often I make soups in two stages so I can change the flavors over a few days. First I prepare a base of longer-cooking vegetables and chicken or meat if I’m using them. The following day I might add quick-cooking green vegetables, a can of chickpeas or some cubes of tofu to give the soup a different character.

Split pea soup with vegetables, rice and mint

Split pea soups are popular not only in Northern Europe and North America, but also in lands around the Persian Gulf. Rather than cooking the peas on their own, as Europeans do, cooks in the Middle East frequently add a variety of vegetables, as well as rice, noodles or bulgur wheat. The soups might be vegetarian or might include beef, lamb, chicken pieces or meatballs. Yellow split peas cook faster than the common green ones and have a more delicate flavor.

Makes 4 to 6 servings.

1 cup split peas, yellow or green

3 cups beef, chicken or vegetable broth mixed with 3 cups water

2 large onions, halved and sliced thin

8 ounces winter squash or 2 large carrots, peeled and diced

2 celery ribs, sliced

1/3 cup chopped Italian parsley

1/2 cup white rice (medium- or long-grain) or bulgur wheat

Salt and freshly ground pepper

1 teaspoon turmeric or curry powder

2 tablespoons lemon juice, or to taste

2 tablespoons vegetable oil or butter

2 tablespoons chopped fresh mint or 2 teaspoons dried

Sort peas and rinse them with water. In large saucepan, combine peas with broth and half of the onion slices. Bring to a boil. Cover and simmer for 20 minutes if using yellow split peas or 45 minutes if using green ones. Add squash, celery, parsley, rice (or bulgur wheat), salt, pepper and turmeric, and cook for 15 minutes or until split peas and rice are tender. Add lemon juice.

Heat oil in a skillet, add remaining onion, and saute over medium heat for 7 minutes or until golden brown. Stir in mint. Remove from heat and spoon onion mixture over soup for garnish.

Barley soup with tomatoes, peppers and green beans

Barley has long been a soup favorite. According to author Lesley Chamberlain, “barley almost achieved the status of a national food in Poland.” This satisfying grain is also healthful; it is highly recommended by nutritionists for its beneficial type of fiber.

Barley thickens soups considerably as it stands. If you’re making the soup ahead, add water when you reheat it to get the consistency you like. Peppers and fresh dill lend a delicate aroma and taste to this colorful vegetable soup.

Makes 4 to 6 servings.

2 tablespoons olive oil, vegetable oil or butter

1 large onion, diced

2 carrots, diced

2 celery ribs, diced

1 pound ripe tomatoes, diced or a 14-ounce can diced tomatoes, drained

1 quart beef, chicken or vegetable broth, or water

1/2 cup pearl barley

Salt and freshly ground pepper

2 green peppers, diced

1 1/2 cups green beans, cut in thirds

3 zucchini or yellow crookneck squashes, diced

1/2 teaspoon ground allspice (optional)

1 to 2 tablespoons chopped dill or 1 to 2 teaspoons dried

Heat oil in a large saucepan, add onion and saute over medium heat for 7 minutes or until light golden. Add carrots and celery, and saute for 2 minutes. Add tomatoes, broth and 2 cups water, and bring to a boil. Reduce heat to low. Add barley, salt and pepper. Cover and cook for 30 minutes.

If soup is too thick, add 1 cup hot water. Add peppers, green beans, zucchini and allspice, and cook for 15 more minutes or until barley and vegetables are tender. Stir in dill. Taste and adjust seasoning. Serve hot.

Chicken noodle soup with tomatoes, cumin and cilantro

For this soup, choose very fine, short egg noodles, or break spaghetti or vermicelli into short lengths. Instead of noodles, you can add a few spoonfuls of cooked white or brown rice to each bowl. If your family doesn’t like cilantro, make the soup with parsley. Sauteing the onion and chicken before adding the liquid gives the soup a deeper color and flavor.

Makes 4 or 5 main-course or 6 to 8 appetizer servings.

2 tablespoons olive oil or vegetable oil

1 large onion, chopped

1 1/2 to 2 pounds chicken pieces

Salt and freshly ground black pepper

1 14-ounce can diced tomatoes with their juice

1 carrot, diced (optional)

2 celery stalks, sliced

3 garlic cloves, chopped (optional)

7 cups water

1 teaspoon ground cumin, or more to taste

1 cinnamon stick or 1/4 teaspoon ground cinnamon or to taste (optional)

1/4 teaspoon ground allspice or to taste

1 1/3 cups very fine noodles (soup noodles)

1/3 cup chopped cilantro or Italian parsley

Heat oil in a large, heavy saucepan or stew pan. Add onion and saute over medium heat until golden, about 7 minutes. Add chicken, sprinkle with salt and pepper, and saute for 7 minutes. Add tomatoes, carrot, celery, garlic and enough water to generously cover chicken and bring to a simmer. Skim foam from surface. Add cumin, cinnamon and allspice.

Cover and simmer, skimming fat occasionally, for 50 to 60 minutes, or until chicken is very tender and soup is well flavored.

Cook noodles uncovered in a large saucepan of boiling salted water for 7 minutes or until just tender. Drain well.

Discard cinnamon stick. Add half of cilantro or parsley to soup.

For a main course, either serve chicken pieces in soup or remove bones and skin and return meat to pot. To serve soup as an appetizer, reserve most or all of the chicken for other dishes.

Taste soup and adjust seasoning. Add noodles to each bowl of hot soup and sprinkle with remaining cilantro or parsley.