Quinoa Minestrone "Soup"

Name: Quinoa Minestrone "Soup"
Cuisine: British
Ingredients: Half cup of quinoa (around 150g I've used, that wasn't half cup); Around 1 liter of veggie stock; 500 g spinach, chopped; 50 g basil leaves, chopped; 2 onions, chopped; 2 medium potatoes, diced 🥔; 4-5 garlic, minced; 1 tomato, diced 🍅; 150 g carrots (3/4 cup), diced; 150 g Green beans (3/4 cup), diced; 1 peek sliced; Half cup celery, diced; 1 zucchini, peeled and diced; Olive oil,; Salt and pepper

Péter Szűcs @peterszucs

Bristol

Based on the pic, you might wonder whether it's edible, and yeah.. Not my best pic ever. But it's tasty really.
Recently I've been in Peru, and I really liked their kitchen (besides some traditional ones...)
So of course I bought a peruvian cookbook. This recipe is based on one of recipes in the cookbook though I did some changes as I believe that recipe is just wrong, as for example it says I should add 500g of basil leaves. 🤷‍♂️

Péter Szűcs @peterszucs

Saved

Ingredients

Halfcup of quinoa (around 150g I've used, that wasn't half cup)
Around 1 liter of veggie stock
500 gspinach, chopped
50 gbasil leaves, chopped
2onions, chopped
2medium potatoes, diced 🥔
4-5garlic, minced
1tomato, diced 🍅
150 gcarrots (3/4 cup), diced
150 gGreen beans (3/4 cup), diced
1peek sliced
Halfcup celery, diced
1zucchini, peeled and diced
Olive oil,
Salt and pepper

Saved

Steps

1

So first of all this recipe is a bit of experiment. I definitely wouldn't call it a soup, as it became quite thick even though I have added some splash of water during cooking, and also I would probably change a few things next time. I will write some conclusions as a last 'step' so I won't forget...
2

First things first, let's dice and prepare everything. On this picture, the 2 darker green bowls contain the "spinach-basil base", in the next step I will write down how I made that and this picture also contains the cooked quinoa.
3

Spinach-basil base: so we got the chopped spinach and basil leaves, and about a liter of stock. We mix them and blend it as smooth as possible. I've used a normal hand blender.
4

So just to don't forget, as a step please cook the quinoa, if you haven't done already.
5

On a bit of oil sauté the onions over medium heat for a few minutes until they get golden a bit,then add the garlic and the diced tomato, bit of salt and pepper and cook for a few minutes.
6

Add the carrots, green beans, leek and celery then mix well.
7

Poor in the blended Spinach-basil base and add the quinoa to the pot. Season to taste. Cook on medium heat for 15 minutes.
8

Finally, add the zucchini and the potatoes and cook for another 15 minutes, or until the veggies reached how you like them (super soft or a bit al dente? 😊) finally if needed season again with salt and pepper.
9

Finally, serve it!
10

And as I was cooking some notes here what I tried to differently. I definitely need more liquid or less filling as at the end, especially on the next day it looks more like a veggie stew. I also wonder how it could be a bit better looking. Advises welcome! 😊