How do I make a vegetable broth with what I have?

I don’t know how much of each you’ve got, but I can make a pretty good veggie stock with just onions and garlic. Add in the tomatoo paste and it will be extra rich. Yummy.

I take everything I have, skins, peels and all, roughly chop it, put it in a big pot with enough water to cover, simmer for a couple of hours, and strain.

What kind of spices do you have??

I would take and roast in a pan with water in the oven at minimum the onions, celery, jalepeno, garlic, and cabbage. I would add some salt and other spices depending on taste I was looking to have. I would coursely chop the veggies in order for them to cook down.

The potatoes and tomato paste if your looking to make a soup I would use in the soup so you have something in the soup and for thickening.

How strong of a broth or what other kind of soup are you making? The cabbage, quartered would make either a mild broth cooked in water or cooked a long time a strong broth with the other ingredients.

@creative1 Are you saying chop the vegtables, roast them in the oven and then simmer in water? I like it. The roasting would give a nice edge to the broth. GA

Yes, the roasting carmelizes the veggies so they bring out the most sweetness of the vegetables then put them in a pan cook them on the stove top. When roasting them in the pan you do want to be sure to put the water in the hot pan in order to get all the vegetable flavors from the bottom of the pan you were roasting in before moving to cooking on the stove top. It adds the most flavor… my neice always asks me how come my vegetables always taste so good.

I have 1.5 huge white onions, 5 red potatoes [larger than boilers], 1 jalepeño, and most of an entire garlic clove left [like 10 pieces?].

I have cumin, kosher salt, curry, coriander, pepper… I prefer spicy foods and earthy foods like middle eastern/indian fare.

Thanks for the roasting idea…can I put them in pyrex or is a cookie sheet better? Or even a layers of foil? Gas stove btw…

I would save ½ the head of cabbage and 3 potatoes for the soup itself. With corn, celery, carrots, any kind of dark green strips of greens and some spices, you have dinner.

I’ve always used a cookie sheet or metal pan. It might stick a little and be harder to clean off the pyrex, but I’m not sure. My first thought was brown the ⅔ or ¾s of the onion, a couple or more if you like cloves of garlic, ½ to ⅔ of the jalopeno, about the same amount of celery as onions, in a little oil til its sweated out. Add water, chop vegtables except cabbage, ¼ that and throw in all of the vegtables in except the potatoes. Cook for an hour, or longer for stronger flavor, throw in potatoes and cook til they’re done. Save potatoes and cabbage. The cabbage is good with a little vinegar. Strain the broth. Check the seasoning all the way along and adjust to your taste. The carrots are good part browned and part cooked in the broth just before the potatoes go in. Save them too.

Oh! I forgot that I have 1lb of carrots as well :D And thanks for mentioning that I should save ½ the cabbage :)

Thanks so far everyone!

Wow, in case anyone reads this question looking for answers, this next link explains why roasting vegetables before creating a soup makes an awesome soup!

You don’t have to roast the veggies. You can chop them and saute them in a little butter or oil for the same effect.

I’d leave out the potatoes. They don’t contribute any flavor. Cabbage might give a little flavor but probably also not worth it.

Now, you COULD roast the garlic, but that creates a rather hardcore (sweet, nutty) flavor profile. It’s also somewhat difficult to roast garlic. You need to cut the top third off, rub it with oil, and wrap it in foil, then roast for about 45 minutes until soft. But then you can just squeeze the softened cloves out of their skins and whisk them into the finished soup to thicken it (by taste, not all at once!), rather than using this for the stock application.

Also, if you’re going to use the spices, it helps to saute them for a minute or three in oil. This “blooms” their flavor. You can do this right along with your sauted vegetables, though you may want to hold off on the spices until the last few minutes so they don’t burn. You can also add some minced garlic along with the spices.

This also applies to tomato paste. Sauteing tomato paste until it darkens really deepens its flavor.

I use a metal roasting pan that I would roast a turkey or a chicken in, another great way of carmelizing the veggies is on the grill I have done that and made a great soup with them. I cut them in big pieces and just put them on the grill and brown each side. I then chop everything up into desired size after and add it to the soup.

But usually when I grill the veggies I like to just put them all in tin foil in the oven then eat them as a side dish or main course depending on what veggies I am cooking.

By the way the spices you mention should work great, I noticed when I cook more middle eastern they tend to add more spice at the end. I was told they like everything to be really aromatic. The Jalepeno should give you some of your desired heat especially if you use more rather than less.

I just use scraps for stock. Otherwise it’s too costly.