Vegetable Stock

1. Peel, wash and chop all the vegetables and set them aside.

2. Heat a pot/pressure cooker with a couple of tablespoons of olive oil on medium heat. Add the chopped onions, carrot, celery, beetroot, ginger, garlic and herbs such as cilantro (coriander) and basil.

3. Add chopped tomatoes, salt and freshly ground black pepper.

4. Add whole dry red chilies (optional) and water. Stir lightly, cover the pot and allow it to simmer for about 25 to 30 minutes (if using an open pot). If using a pressure cooker, close the lid and let it cook till you hear one whistle of pressure release.

5. After its done, open the pot/pressure cooker, and spoon out the clear stock (without the solids or vegetables) into a bowl.

To prepare the broth (with the vegetables):

6. Into a blender, spoon in the vegetables along with the stock and blend well. This is the vegetable broth, that you can refrigerate and can be used to prepare the vegetable stock and use in your cooking when desired.

SERVING

7. The vegetable stock and broth may be stored in a refrigerator and used whenever desired in your cooking.

Add 3/4 cups of water to about 2 to 3 tablespoons of vegetable broth to make one cup of vegetable stock which is ready to use.

The vegetable broth may be frozen in ice cube trays (wrapped with plastic wrap) and once frozen, the broth cubes may be stored in zip lock bags in the freezer. This way, you can store easy-to-use vegetable broth cubes in your freezer.

Other herbs such as organo, rosemary and thyme may also be used for this recipe.

For the vegetable stock, you can add in the vegetables of your choice.