It has been a long time since I have blogged, but I’m sticking to the excuse that while in Korea I didn’t have a full kitchen to test recipes, I was backpacking around Asia after my teaching contract ended and upon returning home I was bombarded with grad school homework.
In my free time I waste hours obsessing over my kitten, Chai, binging on Netflix, walking around my neighborhood or making enough food to last weeks. I’ll admit I don’t always use my time wisely, but I justify it by saying that I work hard in school.
And Chai is just too lovable.
Tonight I finally broke down and turned the heat on so Chai is laying in his window seat next to the heater, I’m sick of “GIlmore Girls,” it’s drizzling out. All of these factors have combined to create the ba BA BAAA! perfect night for making enough food to last for weeks.
I’m going to interrupt here and make a note that when I make enough food to last for weeks I freeze it and take it to school for lunch. It makes my mornings less chaotic and I know I’m eating healthy and not wasting money on food at school.
The recent purchase of a humungous stockpot has really been a godsend in my life and so far I have made and frozen vegetable noodle soup (Saturday) and I just made enough vegetable broth to last several soup endeavors. Faithful readers will know the loving relationship that I share with the chickpea, so it only seemed natural that a chickpea soup would come next. I used up most of my vegetables in Saturday’s vegetable noodle soup, so all that remained after soup and copious amounts of juicing was beets and kale. (note: I have been saving the juice pulp and used it in my veggie broth.) I have also been having a love affair with beets lately. They turn everything a lovely shade of purple, are chock full of nutrients, and make you pee an interesting color. Really, it’s nearly a perfect root. Believe it or not, I also think it works well in place of potatoes, if a recipe calls for them and you don’t have any on hand… It’s almost similar to the fennel instead of celery trick I pulled last week. Nevertheless, here is a delicious recipe I tried tonight.
Ingredients:
- 6 cups of cooked chickpeas
- 2 red onions
- 1 tbsp cumin
- 1 tbsp cayenne pepper
- 1 tsp turmeric
- salt and pepper to taste
- 4 cloves garlic, minced
- 1 jalapeño pepper (just for fun)
- a handful of parsley and cilantro
- 3 cups basmati rice (or any rice, or whatever grain you have on hand)
- 2 beets
- 4 cups almond milk
Pre-recipe:
I only have dried chickpeas, so I soaked for several hours then cooked in my rice cooker while the broth was simmering to save time.
Imma take it away…
First I sautéed 2 red onions in olive oil and salt in the stock pot. After about 5 minutes, I added minced garlic, jalapeño, cumin, cayenne pepper and turmeric. I set aside the onion and garlic peeling to add to my next batch of broth.
Next, I added the broth (16 cups), 1 cup of basmati rice (it was all I had) and 2 chopped beets. Bring to a simmer, then add chickpeas (I added a lot because I soaked way too many, plus they’re delicious) and cook for 15 minutes.
Lastly, add 4 cups of almond milk (or any non-sweetened non-dairy milk) and a large bunch of kale. Let it simmer for about 10 more minutes and voile! I served with a dollop of yogurt on top, but this isn’t necessary, just delicious
It should be noted that this is an extremely large batch of soup, but I am dividing it into 12 mason jars to freeze as well as to use for my lunch tomorrow.
In an ideal world, maybe you would add more veggies, but I like to practice the art of cooking with what is in your fridge.
floury words 