Fill a medium size saucepan with water (just above the middle), add the spices and bay leaves and bring to a boil.
Cut the potatoes, carrot and onion in half, grate the tomato, and add them in the pot along with all the other ingredients, except for the rice and olive oil. Simmer for 10 minutes or until potatoes are done.
Grind in the blender (or the food processor) one potato, the carrot, the pepper, half the onion and half the celery along with a glass of the broth (in which they were boiled) and add the mixture back to the pot. If we have a blender, grind them in the pot after first removing the rest of the vegetables with a slotted spoon.
Add the rice and stir. Simmer over very low heat for 10 minutes. Turn off the heat, add the olive oil and leave for another 5 minutes.
Serving
Serve warm adding lemon, olive oil or freshly ground pepper.
The vegetables you did not blend, you can serve them with the soup. Either in the soup or as a side dish.
You can decorate your soup with small celery leaves.
You can serve your soup with freshly baked wholewheat bread.
Notes
Turmeric will give your vegan soup a beautiful golden color but the important thing is that it has antioxidant and anti-cancer properties.
Ideally, instead of water, you can use vegetable broth. Thus, you will have an even richer result and your soup will have a more fulfilling taste and texture.
You can make variations of this vegan recipe by adding various vegetables, herbs or even spices. Such as zucchini, pumpkin, parsley, sweet paprika and rosemary.