Caldo Verde — Portuguese Kale Soup

Name: Caldo Verde — Portuguese Kale Soup
Total time: 40 min
Yield: 4
Cuisine: Portuguese (Minho)
Ingredients: 600 g Floury potatoes, peeled and diced; 300 g Couve galega or cavolo nero (dark kale); 1 large Onion, chopped; 2 Garlic cloves; 100 g Chouriço; 4 tbsp Extra virgin olive oil; 1.5 L Water; Salt

Portugal's national soup, and one of its plainest: potatoes blended smooth for the body, then a mountain of finely shredded dark cabbage stirred in at the end so it stays green, with a few coins of chouriço for smoke.

المصدر

الوصفة من Minho kitchens · 🏺 تقليدي · The green, rainy Minho of Portugal's far north-west — the region that gave the country its national soup, caldo verde

Portuguese (Minho) · traditional dish — An ownerless traditional dish, so no cook is credited. The cited article places caldo verde's origin in the Minho Province of northern Portugal, lists the defining ingredients — potatoes, olive oil, onion, garlic and finely julienned couve-galega (or kale/collard) — records the traditional chouriço, paio or linguiça garnish, and notes that in 2011 a public vote named it one of Portugal's Seven Wonders of Gastronomy. Quantities and method here are this book's own.

خلفية على ويكيبيديا ↗

شاهد طريقة التحضير · 3 فيديو

Gastro Portugal Fed by Sab BuildBloom

⏱ 40 دقيقة🍽 4 حصة🔥 260 سعرة🇵🇹 البرتغال

خالٍ من الألبانخالٍ من الغلوتينخالٍ من المكسرات

المكوّنات

الحصص

🛒 شراء المكونات

استُبعدت أساسيات المؤن — فقط ما تحتاج للخروج لشرائه.

★ تشير إلى مكوّن تصفه الوصفة بأنه يصعب إيجاده أو لا بديل له.

الخطوات

Soften the onion and garlic in 2 tablespoons of the olive oil over medium heat for 5 minutes. Add the diced potato, cover with the water, and simmer until the potato is completely soft, about 15 minutes.
Meanwhile, dry-fry or briefly simmer the chouriço coins for a couple of minutes to release their colour and smoke, then set them aside.
Blend the potato pot until completely smooth using a stick blender. It should be the texture of thin cream — add a splash more water if it is too thick. Season with salt.
💡 This is the one step people skip and regret: an unblended, chunky base tastes like a different, clumsier soup. Blend it fully before the greens go anywhere near it.
Bring the smooth soup back to a simmer, stir in the shredded greens, and cook uncovered for just 4–5 minutes, until they are tender but still bright green.
💡 Short cooking keeps the green colour and a little bite. Boil the leaves for fifteen minutes and the soup turns khaki and flat.
Ladle into bowls, lay two or three chouriço coins on each, and finish with a thread of the remaining olive oil. Serve with cornbread (broa) if you have it.

💡 نصائح

Meat-free version: skip the chouriço entirely and stir a good pinch of smoked paprika into the oil at the start. With olive oil in place of any lard it becomes fully vegan — but only once the sausage is gone, so it is not tagged vegetarian here by default.
The greens must be shredded far finer than looks necessary — roll the destemmed leaves into a tight cigar and slice across into hair-thin ribbons. This is the single detail that separates a real caldo verde from cabbage soup.