Tomato-Vegetable Barley Soup With Mediterranean Aromas

Mouth-watering Tomato-Vegetable and Barley soup with Mediterranean Aromas. Where a smooth broth with chunky vegetables meet sweet and sour flavors. squeezed lemon

This is the best way to merge a love of 3 soups.

A Dairy-free and meat-free soup.

Don’t miss adding mushrooms for umami flavors.

Ingredients Of This Tomato-Vegetable and Barley Soup

Let’s go over the Mediterranean ingredients first:

Natural Date Syrup –

Natural Date Syrup is my go-to natural sweetener for most dishes. Its midnight tint and earthy pure caramel and vanilla-sweet flavors add charm to any soup without too much sweetness.

Date honey is also known as date molasses, date honey, date nectar, and Silan, and the list goes on.

Tip –

For the added caramel flavor, make sure to sauté the date syrup with the other ingredients in the pot, before adding the water.

Why do you need the sweetness of date syrup?

As this is a tomato soup, it calls for fresh tomatoes and tomato paste (or crushed tomatoes).

Tomato soup should carry some sweetness. But the sweetness should be balanced. It’s known that tomatoes have a certain amount of bitterness.

Therefore, most recipes with tomato paste figure that the tomato paste contains processed white sugar to cancel out the natural bitterness of the tomatoes.

But if you’re like me and you prefer to use natural ingredients as much as possible, then that includes natural tomato paste, or crushed tomatoes.

So, the recipe calls for natural (unsweetened) tomato paste and fresh tomatoes.

This means that the soup would end up bitter. No white sugar, right?

That’s where the natural date syrup comes into the scene.

The natural date syrup adds moderate sweetness to any dish.

Another reason I use date syrup is because of its nutritional benefits. High in antioxidants, fibers, minerals and vitamins, it also has a lower glycemic index than maple syrup, bee honey, (and, of course, processed sugar), which is important for blood sugar health.

Out of Tomato Paste?

As mentioned above, the recipe contains tomato paste. You can sub 2 to 3 freshly grated or chopped tomatoes instead of the tomato paste . If you have soft, red tomatoes in your fridge, that’s even better. Just add the grated tomatoes to the ingredients that are sautéing, before pouring in the water.

Or you can add tomato paste, and frsh tomatoes, and crushed tomatoes.

It all depends on the amount of tomatoes you like in tomato soup.

Barley –

Pre-rinsed pearl barley. They don’t need to be pre-soaked or cooked for longer than 30 to 40 minutes.

Celery –

Chopped or minced celery stalks and leaves for their unique aroma, flavor and texture. Saute the celery with the other ingredients in oil before you add the water.

Carrots –

Sautéing chopped or diced carrots contributes to the rich vegetable texture, and enhances the mildly sweet flavor of the soup.

What the Tomato Barley Soup doesn’t have

• NO added chicken stalk or broth to keep it vegan
• NO dairy ingredients
• NO processed sugar
• NO soup mix powder for extra flavor
• NO starchy additives for thickening the soup. It comes out with a tad of thickness as the liquid evaporates a bit.

Preparation Of Tomato Vegetable Barley Soup

• Toss in the spices for a quick sauté to extract their flavors.
• In a non-stick pot, over a high heat, saute onions in oil for a few minutes.
• Add the rest of the ingredients for another 7-minute sauté.
• Then, pour in water bring to boil and set the heat to low to simmer for 30 minutes.
• Thicken the broth – Keep simmering to let more water evaporate.

And there you have it!

Tomato Mushroom Barley Soup when you’re pressed for time:

Related Recipes:

Mushroom Barley Tomato Soup On A Tight Schedule

Mushroom Barley Vegetable Soup

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Meaty Soups:

Chicken Ball Soup – Persian Gondi – Kosher for Passover

Kubbeh Dumpling Soup – Ground beef stuffed in Semolina Pockets