Tiger soup - Perfect for getting your morning off to a Grrrreat start!

By: Tom Cloyd (Published: 2025-11-18; reviewed: 2026-02-19:1316 Pacific Time (USA))

a happy tiger

Photo by Kartik Iyer on Unsplash

This is what I have every morning, before coffee. It's a soup that you drink. We think it will give you increased confidence (especially after you review the explanation for each ingredient), attractive dignity (because intelligently improving your health is serious business), and natural good looks. Doubt me? Consider that the tiger pictured has just had his!

It provides you with an amazing range of nutrients, fast, all of which were included for very specific reasons. Note particularly that this drink provides about 25 grams of bioavailable complete protein - about half of recommended daily protein for an adult below the age of 65 and about 1/3 of the recommended daily protein for an older adult.3

For detailed explanation and justification of each ingredient, see Ingredients - explained, below.

A number of these ingredients are unusual. You will have to search for them or order them online. I give a suggestion here for where to do that. Even if you don't use all the ingredients, any that you do use have distinct benefits, so don't be reluctant to use only some of what's below. You won't taste the herbs and spices. Do include the nutritional yeast because it significantly improves the taste.

This recipe is for one portion, to be mixed into 12 oz. hot water. I typically measure out 7 or more portions at a time, putting each into a small glass jar for storage. There is no need to mix the ingredients.

When you're ready to make a cup of this, stir in the broth paste either before or after you heat your water. Then stiring the pre-measured ingredients for one serving. Wait a couple of minutes for it to absorb the water, then stir it again, before sipping. Mine is usually entirely consumed within 5 minutes, and I stir it often as I sip it.

What does this collage of surprising ingredients taste like? It has a mild, attractive flavor. Fix it as I suggest below and I think you be surprised. I find it easy to drink the whole thing rather quickly, morning after morning, because one sip leads to wanting another.

(No tigers were harmed in the development of this recipe! I promise! A few did get a bit grouchy with some of my early versions, however. Not enough blood, I think. We mustn't tell them that it has none at all - it's a vegan soup...)

Page contents...

Recipe 1: Ingredients for ~24 grams of bioavailable complete protein ^

Tiger soup additions to the core below

  • 1.5 to 2 cups cold water (or 1 c soy milk) and 1/2 to 1 c water; this adds about 1 egg's worth of complete protein, but without the cholesterol.)
  • 1/2 to 1 t vegetarian broth paste (bouillon)1 - optional but nice

Smoothie core6 - the heart of the recipe { #smoothie-core-recipe}

  • 1/4 cup dry okara flour or 1/2 cup moist okara (see comment below) - optional but full of fiber and good nutrition2
  • 2 T pea protein powder
  • 2 T hulled hemp seed
  • 1 T flax (ground)
  • 1 T peanut butter powder or peanut butter
  • 1 T nutritional yeast (important both for nutrition and taste)
  • 1/2 T oregano
  • 1 t macha powder OR 2 bags of green tea (I like Costco's Kirkland brand, because it has macha tea in it)
  • 1 t amla powder
  • 1 t creatine monohydrate (optional)
  • 1/4 t cinnamon
  • 1/4 t turmeric (plus a pinch of ground pepper)
  • 1/4 t nutritional fiber (optional - see below)
  • 1/8 t clove (ground)

Bioavailable complete protein in this recipe: ~ 21-27 grams. Use 1 cup of soy milk and you add 6-8 grams of complete protein.

tiger soup in a cup

Tiger soup / Photo by Tom Cloyd

Recipe 2: Ingredients for ~30 grams of bioavailable complete protein ^

Tiger soup additions to the core below

  • 1.5 to 2 cups cold water (or 1 c soy milk) and 1/2 to 1 c water; this adds about 1 egg's worth of complete protein, but without the cholesterol.)
  • 1/2 to 1 t vegetarian broth paste (bouillon)1 - optional but nice

Smoothie core6 - the heart of the recipe

  • 1/4 cup dry okara flour or 1/2 cup moist okara (see comment below) - optional but full of fiber and good nutrition2
  • 2.5 T pea protein powder
  • 3 T nutritional yeast (important both for nutrition and taste)
  • 1 T flax (ground)
  • 1 T peanut butter powder or peanut butter
  • 1/2 T oregano
  • 1 t macha powder OR 2 bags of green tea (I like Costco's Kirkland brand, because it has macha tea in it)
  • 1 t amla powder
  • 1 t creatine monohydrate (optional)
  • 1/4 t cinnamon
  • 1/4 t turmeric (plus a pinch of ground pepper)
  • 1/4 t nutritional fiber (optional - see below)
  • 1/8 t clove (ground)

Bioavailable complete protein in this recipe: ~ 21-27 grams. Use 1 cup of soy milk and you add 6-8 grams of complete protein.

Recipe 3: Ingredients for ~30 grams of bioavailable complete protein, including hemp seed or protein ^

Tiger soup additions to the core below

  • 1.5 to 2 cups cold water (or 1 c soy milk) and 1/2 to 1 c water; this adds about 1 egg's worth of complete protein, but without the cholesterol.)
  • 1/2 to 1 t vegetarian broth paste (bouillon)1 - optional but nice

Smoothie core6 - the heart of the recipe

  • 1/4 cup dry okara flour or 1/2 cup moist okara (see comment below) - optional but full of fiber and good nutrition.2
  • 1.5 T pea protein powder
  • 2 T hulled hemp seed OR 1.7 T hemp seed protein powder
  • 3 T nutritional yeast (important both for nutrition and taste)
  • 1 T flax (ground)
  • 1 T peanut butter powder or peanut butter
  • 1/2 T oregano
  • 1 t macha powder OR 2 bags of green tea (I like Costco's Kirkland brand, because it has macha tea in it)
  • 1 t amla powder
  • 1 t creatine monohydrate (optional)
  • 1/4 t cinnamon
  • 1/4 t turmeric (plus a pinch of ground pepper)
  • 1/4 t nutritional fiber (optional - see below)
  • 1/8 t clove (ground)

Bioavailable complete protein in this recipe: ~ 21-27 grams. Use 1 cup of soy milk and you add 6-8 grams of complete protein.

Procedure ^

In a wide-mouth canning jar, or something similar (I use a large coffee cup that holds 12+ oz), put the first 2 ingredients. The okara is optional but I strongly recommend it. If you have none, reduce the water by 1/2 cup and use 1/2 cup of some mild cooked bean - garbanzos, or navy beans would be good. Blend the beans and water in a blender before heating. The total protein will be reduced, but only moderately.

How to use this recipe ^

By far the best approach is to mix up a number of individual portions, in advance. Then, it's ready to use with very little effort.

I regularly mix up 16 portions, each placed in its own little 1/2 cup lidded jar. To mix those 16 portions takes me 45 minutes - not quite 3 minutes a batch.

Ingredients - explained ^

Most of the ingredients in this recipe came from my reading of a truly exceptional book5, authored with such focus and impressive scholarship that I had to take its recommendations seriously. The author's respect for science runs deep, and he is superb at explaining it. His writing is fun to read and resolutely informative at the same time. My own additions are these: the okara flour, pea protein, creatine powder, and nutritional fiber.

1/4 c ground dry okara flour (optional)

Okara is the ground soybean pulp left-over from making soy milk at home. It's incredibly versatile and nutritionally valuable. Adding it to any recipe or preparation will lower its glycemic index. This is considered a very good thing, as means that your insulin production system is less stressed than it might otherwise be.4

In my tiger soup, it has another function: thickener. Thickening the soup makes the various non-soluable ingredients stay in suspension longer.

Note that in savory (not sweet) smoothies, one can substitute 1/2 cup of some cooked mild bean, unless the recipe already has in it a legume of some sort. This is an immediate fix for those who have no access to okara flour.

2 T pea protein powder

Another extremely versatile ingredient that's a nutritional powerhouse. I get mine from Amazon - Anthony's Premium Pea Protein, 2 lb. An excellent product.

1 T flax (ground) 1 T peanut butter or peanut butter powder 1/2 T oregano 1/2 T nutritional yeast 2 t ground chia seed (could be increased to 1 T) 1 t macha powder OR 2 bags of green tea (I like Costco's Kirkland brand, because it has macha tea in it) 1 t amla powder 1 t creatine monohydrate (optional) 1/4 t cinnamon 1/4 t turmeric (plus a pinch of ground pepper) 1/4 t fiber 1/8 t clove (ground)

About okara ^

Okara2 is the ground up soybeans left over from the making of soy milk. It has many uses, and using it in this recipe quickly uses up whatever okara you have in your refrigerator or freezer from the last batch of soy milk you made. Like all soy products and derivatives, it's very nutritious. It also has virtually no taste, which makes it quite versatile.

Notes ^

  1. I use and recommend "Better than Bouillon" brand "seasoned vegetable base" broth paste. It's quite good. ↩↩↩

  2. Okara is a bit of a soymilk by-product worth acquiring. The best way to do that is to make your own soy milk. ↩↩↩↩

  3. documenting this is not a small project. I'm writing an article o this topic, and will link to it from here when it's ready. ↩

  4. Something else I'm working to document. ↩

  5. The book: Greger, M., & Stone, G. (2015). How not to die: Discover the foods scientifically proven to prevent and reverse disease (First edition). Flatiron Books. Michael Greger, M.D., is a physician and educator; Gene Stone is the author of many books on plant-based nutrition. ↩

  6. These ingredients are set apart because they are used in another recipe, and can be in used in a wide range of possible smoothies. ↩↩↩

 

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