6 Mistakes to Avoid While Cooking Vegetable Soup.

Vegetables are healthy, beautiful and delicious but when cooking them, we can do a lot of things that can change everything. There are common mistakes that can occur, and I should know that because I think I've made each one. Those bright , colorful, crunchy veggies somehow end up dull, gray and mushy. Fortunately, I learned from my mistakes (a lot of them anyway), and I will share with you some veggie-cooking tips. Hopefully you can avoid living an episode of Good Veggies when Bad Things Happen.

In Nigeria there are various kinds of vegetable soups made by different tribes. The western Nigerian Yorubas have their own kind of vegetable soup known as efo riro, the Igbos have their own variety, such as Oha soup etc. Also the Southern region has its own version of vegetable soup like Edika ikong soup and the list is endless.

There are some mistakes that people make in preparing this delicious soup which eventually leads to complaints and questions like how did my vegetable soup get too watery? Why isn't my vegetable soup green? How did my vegetable soup turn salty? All these issues can be avoided by taking the precautions underlined below.

•   Mistake number one.

The first mistake is to wash your vegetables hurriedly and throw water that is meant to be drained inside the stew base. The vegetable is the first thing to prepare the other ingredients and make them ready well ahead. Cut the vegetables, wash them in a colander and drain. This is to make sure there is no more water on the vegetables which can eventually make your soup watery.

•   Mistake number two

The second mistake that people make is that they cook the vegetable too long. Their aim is to get rid of the on-vegetable bacteria or germs. Doing so will not only kill the bacteria on the vegetables, you will also kill the nutrients and change the color of the vegetables. Whether washing the vegetables in a salty water or using Apple cider vinegar will prevent germs from bringing the vegetables into the bowl. After adding vegetables always turn off the cooker briefly.

•   Mistake number three

The third mistake that someone can make when cooking vegetable soup is to apply water to the vegetables after pouring. All you need to do after you add your vegetables to the base of the sauce and stew is the stir. Vegetables have natural water content which is released as soon as the heat comes into contact. Don't just add water!

•   Mistake number four

The fourth mistake you will ever make when cooking vegetable soup is simply by slicing onions and pouring them inside your soup pot. If you have to use onions in your soup, then use them the correct way. Always have your onions caramelized. Caramelizing of the onions is the method of releasing the onions' sugar content. This is maybe the only difference that you need to take your vegetable soup to the next level. You caramelize through frying the onions and continuously stirring under low heat until translucent in the oil. 

•   Mistake number five

The fifth mistake is covering your vegetable soup for cooking. If you're doing that then stop it. This not only makes the soup watery, it completely alters the color of the green leafy vegetables. Do not cover your vegetable soup to cook.

•   Mistake number six

Another serious mistake people make is adding salt to the vegetable soup when it is almost done. Adding salt before the soup is nearly ready will hurt the soup even more. Salt is meant to be added to a stew base early in the cooking. This is because to make the soup perfect, the longer cooking process breaks down the salt. Most of the time soups where the salt was added late end up being very salty to cool down when left.

You'll get really fine vegetable soup when you try to prevent these mistakes.