Week 49 -- Kik Alicha

Let me start by saying I know this is not authentic.  I do my best, but I am an American girl who has never been to Africa, though I have enjoyed this dish at many Ethiopian restaurants.  It is my favorite of all the Ethiopian stews. 

Kik Alicha is a mild but flavorful yellow split pea stew.  (Alichas are mild yellow stews, kik are yellow split peas; you can substitute lentils for messir alicha.)  It is traditionally served and eaten on a teff flatbread called injera.  I love injera.  It's one of my very favorite foods in the world.  One of the great tragedies of my cooking life is that I have never been able to make an acceptable injera, though it's not for lack of trying.  Thankfully, this stew is also great on its own or eaten with millet (although then you have to use a fork instead of just scooping it up with flatbread).

This weekend we didn't have to resort to eating it with forks.  Mom has been making wonderful red lentil flatbread that we knew was amazing for burritos, but now we know it can substitute for injera, also! 

Again, though this stew is great on its own, I like to make it with my second-favorite Ethiopian dish -- gomen.  It's easy to make.  Double the seasoning mixture and put half with your split peas and half with chopped and cooked greens.  I love it with collards, but spinach works, too.  You can start with fresh or frozen.

I should mention that I love making green split pea soup, but I find yellow split peas much more temperamental.  I always either scorch the bottom or boil over.  This time, my first try making them on an electric stove top, I managed to do both.  Be watchful.  Also, I've said it before, but it bears repeating.  Slice your ginger against the grain first, then mince it with the grain.  If you go with the grain first, you won't be able to mince it small enough.

Kik alicha with collard gomen on red lentil flatbread.

You can see in this picture how thick this stew is. 
It should be almost a porridge consistency.
The black flecks are the nigella sativa seeds.

Kik Alicha

1 pound dry yellow split peas, rinsed
6+ cups water
1/2 onion, minced
4 cloves garlic, minced
1/2 inch ginger, minced
1/4 tsp turmeric
pinch black pepper
1/4 tsp nigella sativa (black cumin seeds), optional
1/4 tsp ajwain, optional
miso to taste

1. Put yellow split peas and water in a large stock pot.  Bring to a boil, then turn down to a simmer.  Keep an eye on them and add water as needed.  Let simmer 1 to 1 1/2 hours until tender to mushy.
2. In skillet, saute all seasoning ingredients in water.  Let cook down until soft and mushy.
3. Mix seasonings with split peas.  Taste for seasonings and add miso as desired.

Makes 4-6 servings.

Week 47 -- Pumpkin Pie Soup

As promised, this is the first soup from my new kitchen!  I'm limited in ingredients and cooking equipment, but I managed to pull together a holiday-appropriate yummy soup. 

This is a sweet and spicy soup.  If you'd like it a little sweeter, add an extra 1/4 cup raisins or some date paste.  It's also hearty because it's full of lentils, so it made good lunches for work.

The onions get nice and sweet, and don't forget that anytime you eat onions with grapes (raisins) you get extra nutritional power due to synergy:  https://nutritionfacts.org/video/food-synergy/

This soup was even good when eaten at my dining room folding table.  

Pumpkin Pie Soup

1 medium onion, diced
1/2 cup raisins
1 cup dry red lentils
4 cups water
1 Tbsp cinnamon
1 tsp allspice
1/2 tsp ginger
1 can (2 cups) pumpkin puree
2 Tbsp molasses
1 scant tsp apple cider vinegar

1.  Saute the onion in a little bit of water. 
2.  Add the raisins, lentils, and water.  Let simmer until lentils are soft (about 15-20 minutes). 
3.  Add the spices, pumpkin, molasses, and apple cider vinegar.  Let simmer about 5-10 more minutes to let the flavors blend.

Makes about 4 servings.

Week 46 -- Apple Sweet Potato Stew

Hopefully this will be the last soup from my parents' kitchen.  I am moving into my new house and new kitchen as I write this.  In fact, after I post, I have to go dig and find my teapot. 

With my allergies, apples are like gold.  And my usual apple supplier was not in business this year (not to mention they are now two hours away from where I'm living).  Luckily, the tree outside mom's office had an amazing harvest for the first time ever.  We have eaten hundreds of apples off the tree this year, literally.  It's not an easy tree to pick from, so we adopted the habit of going out every day to see what dropped.

This stew makes use of some of those glorious miracle apples.

Mom picking some of these magical beauties.

Hot stew after cold apple picking.

Apple Sweet Potato Stew

1 cup red lentils
1 onion, diced
4 cloves garlic, minced
7 cups water
3 sweet potatoes, diced
3 carrots, sliced
1 Tbsp arrowroot
1 tsp each ginger, allspice, cinnamon, cardamom, turmeric
dash ground black pepper
3 apples, diced
1 Tbsp miso
1/2 cup coconut, (reduced fat, unsweetened)
1/4 cup cashews
2 dates

1. Saute onions and garlic in water.  Add sweet potatoes, carrots, red lentils, and half of the water.  Let simmer until all are tender.  Add spices and apples.

2.  In a blender, combine miso, coconut, cashews, and dates with some of the water.  Blend until smooth.  Add to soup.

3. Dissolve arrowroot into a little water that's left.  Add to soup.  Continue simmering until arrowroot is cooked and stew has thickened.

Makes about 6 servings.

Week 37 -- Plum Lentil Stew

I'm calling this soup "Plum Lentil" because it uses dried plums for some wonderful sweet and deep flavor.  What's that?  You don't have dried plums?  You may know them by their old name: prunes.

I don't know why prunes get such a bad reputation.  They're sweet and delicious!  Sure, they keep things moving smoothly, but that doesn't mean they're only for old people.

I like the prunes cut into pieces.  The easiest way to do this is with a pair of kitchen shears or scissors.  Prunes are fabulous in oatmeal (especially in oatmeal mix because they add so much sweetness and flavor) or on top of nut butter on crackers.  In this soup, they cook down right into the lentils.  Don't tell anyone they're in there, and they would never guess your secret ingredient.

The warm spices make this perfect for cool, rainy fall days.

The molasses and spices make this so dark,
you'd think they were brown lentils!

Plum Lentil Stew

1 lb dry red lentils
1 cup dried plums or prunes, cut into smaller chunks
1 small sweet onion, diced
1/2 tsp ginger powder
1 tsp allspice
1/2 tsp nutmeg
1 tsp cinnamon
1 Tbsp molasses
About 6 cups water

1. Boil the red lentils in about 5 cups water.  Add the dried plums and onion.  Cook until everything is tender (about 15 minutes).
2. Add spices, molasses, and more water as needed.  Let simmer on low heat about 30 minutes (you can speed this up if needed, but the longer it simmers the more the flavors will meld).  Let cool before eating.

Makes about 5 servings.

Week 24 -- Carrot Ginger

I was in the mood for a carrot soup, and I had ginger minced in the refrigerator from a few days earlier (as long as I was mincing it for one recipe, I decided to get it ready for a future meal, too).  When mincing ginger, remember to cut against the grain first.  Then you'll have thin slices that are easy to get as small as you want.  If you cut with the grain first, it will be hard to get tiny pieces.

While I was making this, I was on the phone with my mom.  I said I thought I would add some raisins, because I really like carrots and raisins together.  Mom convinced me that the carrot and ginger would be flavorful enough and that raisins would compete.  I took her advice.

As I do every week, I ate one bowl and put the rest of the soup away for lunches.  On Monday, I brought a jar of soup to work and started to eat it, and, oh boy, was it hot!  The ginger that had been fine when I ate the soup fresh had plenty of time to really meld into the soup.  It was so strong I almost couldn't eat it.  The next day I brought some raisins and sprinkled them into the soup as I ate, and it was perfect.

The raisins are totally optional.  If you can handle some good strong ginger heat, you may not want them.  If you need a little mellower flavor, the raisins add a great contrast that keep the ginger from being overwhelming.

It looks so innocent.  You would never suspect how strong the ginger is.

Carrot Ginger

1 red onion, diced
1 1/2 inch fresh ginger, minced
2 lbs carrots, diced
4-6 cups water
raisins (optional)

1. Saute onion in a little water until translucent.
2. Add ginger, carrots, and half the water.  Simmer until carrots are tender.
3. Puree soup.  Add more water as needed for desired consistency.  Return to heat until warmed.
4. Garnish with raisins if desired.

Makes about 4 servings.

Week 22 -- Old World Eggplant Stew

I struggled to name this soup.  I've never had anything like it other places, but it just sounded good to me.  And this soup did hit the spot.  I was under the weather with seasonal allergies and this had ginger and the gentle warmth of allspice, plus a little sweet and a little tangy.

This is not a pretty soup.  The broth is dark and rich, and the eggplant gets soft and melts in your mouth.  But it's great for when you aren't entertaining and want something hearty and warming but not heavy.

Old World Eggplant Stew

1 onion, diced
3 cloves garlic, minced
1 1/2 inch ginger, minced
1 cup red lentils
1 medium eggplant, cubed
8 oz. mushrooms, chunked
4 cups water
1 tsp allspice
1/2 tsp mustard powder
1 tsp apple cider vinegar
2 Tbsp molasses
2 tsp miso paste

1.  In large soup pot (or slow cooker), saute onion and garlic in a little water until softened.  Add ginger, lentils, and water.  Chop the rest of the veggies and add them.  Cover and simmer until lentils are cooked and veggies are tender, about 15 minutes.  If using slow cooker, just throw everything in there.
2.  Add seasonings.  Let simmer about 5 minutes to let flavors meld.  Take out a little broth.  Mix it with the miso paste and add back to the soup.  Turn off heat.

Makes 3-4 servings.

Week 20 -- Wonton Soup

When I first learned how to make my own version of wontons, I was super excited.  I grew up loving wonton soup, but I gave it up when I stopped eating animal products.  It only took me a few months being vegan before I learned to make my own wontons with tempeh and the pre-made wrappers they sell at grocery stores.

When I could no longer eat corn, I had to make my own wonton wrappers.  They weren't awful, but I didn't have any clue how to adapt once I had to stop eating gluten and wheat flour.  This was my first attempt at making gluten-free wontons.  I also had to swap out the tempeh because I'm doing a soy elimnation trial (suspected allergy).  I replaced the tempeh with walnuts and mushrooms. 

This recipe is more a cautionary tale than a recipe.  The end result was delicious, but it wasn't without hiccups.  If you're making this, please consider the amounts below to be suggestions rather than exact measurements.  If you can eat gluten and corn, you can skip the worst steps and use store-bought wonton wrappers, just check the ingredients to make sure you're getting ones without eggs.  This is not a fast or simple recipe, but it's worth the effort.

This makes more wontons than you'll probably want to eat at once.  Freeze the rest in a single layer on a cookie sheet, then transfer to storage containers.  Pull a few out whenever you want a fast bowl of soup.

I should note that this is a totally non-authentic recipe.  It is completely based on Americanized foods.  I recommend that for the actual stuffing and sealing of the wontons, you search online for real directions rather than just going off my free form photographs.

When you see it in the bowl, it's easy to forget how much work it was!

There's the filling!  The psyllium husk makes it clump together better,
but it's optional and just for texture.

The psyllium husk in the dough is not optional.  That's what makes it knead-able and roll-able
like a dough with gluten.  If you're cooking gluten free, it's worth buying to always
have some on hand.  You can add it to many recipes to make them easier to work with.

I am not a master wonton filler.  You can see mine all turned out different shapes.
They all taste good, though!

Filling:
1 cup walnuts
8 oz sliced mushrooms
1/2 small red onion
1-2 cloves garlic
2 inches ginger, peeled and sliced
1 Tbsp psyllium husk (optional)

Chop the first five ingredients in a food chopper or processor.  Then stir in the psyllium (if using).

Dough:
1 1/2 cups garbanzo flour
1 cup millet flour
2/3 cup arrowroot
2 Tbsp psyllium
1 cup water

1. Mix all ingredients.  Knead in more flour as needed. 
2. Roll out between two sheets of parchment very liberally dusted with flour.  Cut into pieces for filling. 
3. Put about a tablespoon of filling on a square of dough.  Dip your finger in water and dampen the edges of the square, then fold the dough over and pinch to seal.
4. Freeze until ready to use or cook right away.  To cook, I put a thin layer of water in my saute pan, set the wontons in, covered, and let the water simmer until the wontons were cooked (the dough has an obvious change in visual texture and color when cooked).  You can search online for better methods of steaming, too.

Broth:
2 cups salt-free vegetable broth
2 cups water
2 tsp miso
sprinkle of parsley

I used the vegetable broth recipe from the How Not to Die cookbook, but you can use whatever broth recipe you like.  Heat the broth with water and miso over low heat.  Don't boil after adding the miso.

Put a few wontons in a bowl.  Ladle the hot broth on top.  Garnish with a sprinkle of parsley (or, to be more authentic, you could use green onions, which I do not like and so do not use).

Week 15 -- Peanut Butter Soup

A few years ago, when I was knew to cooking collards and looking for ideas of what to do with them, someone suggested peanut butter soup.  I looked up recipes, but they all involved a LOT of peanut butter.  Now, don't get me wrong, I love peanut butter, but it's high in saturated fat, and a little goes a long way.

By the way, when buying peanut butter, always make sure to get a brand that is just peanuts.  There shouldn't be any other ingredients, especially no added oil.  There's enough oil in peanut butter already!

When I started playing with this recipe, I wanted to thicken the soup while cutting the peanut butter, so I replaced most of it with red lentils.  They cook quickly and thicken soups nicely.

Also, I don't need to post the same photo of how to roll and slice collards, do I?  You've got that technique down by now.  If not, check out an earlier soup recipe like Turkish Soup or Butternut Spice.

Don't forget -- cut your ginger against the grain first!

Add the tomatoes near the very end so they stay firm.  It smells fantastic.

Yummy!

Peanut Butter Soup

1 red onion
3 cloves garlic
1 inch ginger
1 lb red lentils
8 cups water
1 bunch collards (about 1/2 lb)
1/2 tsp red pepper flakes
1 tsp turmeric
black pepper
1/3 - 1/2 cup peanut butter
4 tomatoes, diced
1 Tbsp lemon juice

1.  In a large soup pot, saute the onion in a little water.  When soft, add the garlic and ginger.  Cook another few minutes until fragrant.
2.  Add lentils and water.  Cook until tender (about 10-15 minutes).
3.  Remove stems from collards.  Cut collards into thin strips.  Add to soup with red pepper flakes.
4.  Add turmeric, black pepper, and peanut butter.  Turn off the heat and add the tomatoes and lemon juice.

Makes about 6 servings.

Week 11 -- Split Pea Soup #1

St. Patrick's Day is coming up this week, and, though it's not one of my favorite holidays, I do like to eat color-coded foods for holidays.  Hence, this week is a nice bright green soup.

While I ate this soup fresh this week, I sometimes turn this recipe into instant soup powder.  To do that, make the soup with less water.  Puree the finished soup (trust me -- it will rehydrate much better and it will grind easier if you puree first).  Spread the soup on dehydrator trays.  I have liners for my trays, but if you just have mesh, spread the soup onto parchment paper over the mesh.  Dehydrate until totally dry.  Then crumble the soup and blend again to make a powder.  This powder is great for travelling or keeping at work for those days you could just use cup of nice homemade soup.  Simply add hot water and let it sit for a few minutes.

Also, I know many people now have pressure cookers to make a soup like this cook super fast.  I don't have one, so these are the old-fashion instructions.  If you're old school like me, let me introduce you to the greatest thing ever for cooking beans -- a silicone lid spill-stopper!  I splurged and spent a whole $8 for this thing online, and it was worth every penny.  I hate how pulses boil over and get starchy gunk all over my stove top, and split peas are some of the worst offenders.  The spill stopper keeps the foam from going everywhere.  I have it featured in the photos below.

One last funny story:  In the directions below I mention to add a little more water to soup you are saving as leftovers, because it thickens up as it sits.  I learned this one the hard way.  One day I had my soup the perfect consistency, nice and thick, and I poured it into my jar and brought it to work. 
When it was time for lunch, I opened the jar, put a paper towel over the top (I always do this), started the microwave, and went to the bathroom (I have timed my lunch time bathroom visit to coincide perfectly with heating my soup).  I came back to find that half of my soup had leapt from the jar!  Thankfully, it knocked off the paper towel and most of it landed on said towel, so I was able to scoop it back into the jar and eat it (never waste soup this yummy!).  Learn from me and thin your soup a little.

Ahh, a nice big chunk of ginger!  That really adds flavor to this soup.
I actually only used half of that chunk and saved the rest for another meal later this week.
When mincing ginger, don't forget to cut against the grain first. 
Then it's much easier to mince the rest of the way.

Here is the spill stopper, ready to work hard!  

The clock is cut off in this photo, but this is exactly one minute later.
With a regular lid, this foam would have been streaming down over my nice clean stove top.

And there are some jars of soup, ready to go for lunches this week,
trying to blend in with the greenery in my kitchen.

Split Pea Soup #1

1 onion, minced
3 cloves garlic, minced
1 inch fresh ginger, minced
1 pound green split peas
8-9 cups water
1 tsp turmeric
black pepper
1-2 Tbsp nutritional yeast (optional)
2 tsp miso paste

1. Saute the onion in a large soup pot with a little bit of water.  Add the garlic and ginger.

2. Rinse the split peas and add them to the pot with 8 cups of water.  Let it come to a boil, then reduce to a simmer.  Simmer for about 40 minutes.  Check to make sure the peas are nicely mushy.

3. Add the turmeric, pepper, nutritional yeast, and miso paste. 

4. If you are eating the soup right away, you should be good to go.  If you are saving it, you will want to water it down a little bit as it will thicken as it sits.

Makes about 4 servings.

Week 10 -- Turkish Stew

First, I do need to admit that I actually know nothing about Turkish foods.  I needed a name for this soup, and as it contains Turkish apricots and some common Turkish spices, that's what I went with.

This soup is spicy in a good way:  warm spices, not hot, and it's a great excuse to eat dried apricots (not that you really need a reason -- they're so good!).

If you are a follower of Dr. Greger's Daily Dozen, this soup ticks off a lot of boxes: legumes, greens, vegetables, fruit, spices.  If you aren't a Daily Dozen devotee, you should head right over to Nutritionfacts.org and read up on it, then download the app to make healthy eating feel like a game.

Look for dried apricots that don't have additives like sugar, sulfur, preservatives. 

They will probably be ugly.  Pretty fruits have been treated with chemicals.

You could probably chop the apricots with a knife, but scissors make the job easy.

I'm reusing a photo of how to make collard ribbons.

Cut out the stems.  Stack leaves.
Roll them, then slice into ribbons. 
Make one final cut down the middle of the rolls for shorter ribbons.

Can you smell the spices?

This soup is flavorful and spicy, but not as sweet as you'd expect.

Turkish Stew

1 red onion, chopped

1 1/2 cups red lentils

1/2 cup dried apricots, chopped

3 medium sweet potatoes

1 small bunch collard greens (about 1/2 pound), cut into ribbons

9 cups water

1 tsp cinnamon

1 tsp ground ginger

1 tsp allspice

1 tsp ground coriander (I ground it in my coffee grinder)

1. Heat a thin layer of water in a soup pot.  Add the onions and water saute until cooked.

2. Add lentils, apricots, and water.  Let simmer about 10 minutes.

3. Add sweet potatoes.  Add collard ribbons and spices.  Let simmer about 15 more minutes until sweet potatoes are soft and spices have had a chance to settle in.

Makes about 6 servings.

Week 7 -- Butternut Spice

This soup was a delicious experiment, and it turned out even tastier than I'd hoped.  It was wonderful on a winter evening, and the flavors are different than I usually use in soups.

It was a little time consuming to prep all the vegetables.  If you want to splurge, pre-cut squash would make this soup cook up much more quickly.  Also, the corn-free oranges I currently have are seedy with tough membranes, so it took a while to pull off just the good stuff.  If you have better oranges or you want to use a high-speed blender to pulverize them, that will save time, too.

I will say, though, that the time was well worth it.  This soup is so flavorful you won't miss salt at all.

The raisins sweeten this soup, but there is a special "magic" that happens when grapes and onions are eaten together.  The synergy between the antioxidants in these foods doubles their cancer-fighting power when eaten together.  (Combined, they can suppress breast cancer growth 70%.)  More about this magic is at Nutritionfacts.org in this video. 

My one regret is that I used cannellini beans because I was hoarding my chickpeas for roasting.  I would definitely recommend chickpeas (garbanzo beans) instead, but it was still amazing with the cannellinis.

I peeled and diced my butternut squash the night before.  To make it easier to peel and dice, I steamed it in the microwave for 5 minutes, then let it sit for a while.  It was still a chore, but didn't require as much force with a knife.

I love collard greens, but my local grocery store hasn't had them in a while.  I celebrated their return by buying two bunches.  This recipe used half a bunch and the rest are becoming chips.

To make collard ribbons, first slice out the center stem.  Stack the de-stemmed leaves (as in the other photo above), then roll them into a log and slice across (as seen here).  Then make one more cut right down the middle of the rounds so the ribbons aren't too long for soup.

Look at it all simmering in the pot!  It's beautiful!

This bowlful isn't as pretty as the picture in the pot because I packaged up my mason jars full first, then gave myself the stuff at the very bottom to eat tonight.  

Butternut Spice Soup

1 medium-large butternut squash, peeled and diced

1 large red onion, diced

2 oranges, peeled and membranes removed, diced

1/2 bunch collard greens, about 6 leaves, de-stemmed and sliced into ribbons

1/2 cup raisins

1 tsp ground cinnamon
1/2 tsp ground ginger

1/2 tsp ground nutmeg
1 1/2 cups (or 1 can) garbanzo beans (or other bean)

water

1. In a stockpot, saute the onion in a little water.

2. Add the squash, oranges, raisins, and collard ribbons.  Pour in enough water to cover the vegetables.  Let simmer until squash and collards are tender, about 15-20 minutes.

3.  Add the spices and beans.  Let beans heat up to soup temperature.

4. Enjoy!  Makes 6 servings.

Note:  I am severely allergic to cloves, but, if you are one of those lucky people who is not, feel free to add a little ground cloves. I think it would taste nice with this soup, if it wouldn't kill me.

Week 6 -- Flu Fighter Soup

It's that time of year when everyone has the sniffles, or worse.  I don't get sick often (one benefit of an immune disorder that basically means my system is always in overdrive), but when I do get sick, I make sure everyone knows it.  You know the jokes about "man colds"?  I'm not a man, but otherwise I fit the description.  I am miserable and whiny, even though my "cold" is rarely worse than sniffles, a headache, and an occasional sneeze. 

This is my ultimate feel-good soup.  Even when I'm not sick, just feeling run down, this soup makes me feel better.  It is one of my favorite meals any time, not only in flu season.

Shiitake mushrooms are especially great for supporting the immune system.  Garlic, onions, and ginger are all well known for helping fight infections.  Kale, like all cruciferous veggies, is high in vitamins and antioxidants.  Miso and tempeh both contain probiotics to help get you back on track if you've been on antibiotics (so I've heard -- I can't remember the last time I needed antibiotics).

Enjoy this soup whether you're healthy or under the weather.  I think you'll like it either way.

Look at those shiitake mushrooms!  They're hard to find in my area, but they're worth a splurge.

I wish you could smell a photograph.  My kitchen always smells amazing when this is cooking.

Flu Fighter Soup

1 large red onion

3 cloves of garlic

4-5 shiitake mushrooms, stems removed

1-2 inches fresh ginger, peeled and minced

1 package tempeh

6 cups kale, torn into pieces

2-3 Tbsp miso

About 4-6 cups water

1. Chop the garlic and set aside for about 30 minutes to get the most benefit.

2. Slice the onion.  In a large skillet, saute onions in a small amount of water until soft.

3.  Add sliced garlic to the onions.  To mince the ginger, cut it into slices against the grain first, then stack slices and mince.  Add to the skillet.

4. Slice the mushrooms into thin strips.  Add to the skillet.

5. Add about 2 cups of water to the pan.  Cut the tempeh into squares and add to the pan.

6.  Tear up the kale and add it to the skillet.  Stir it in and lower the heat.  The kale will soften and turn brighter green.

7. Mix the miso with some water.  Add it to the pan.  Add enough water to make a nice soup (cover about 3/4 of the veggies).  Heat just until the soup is all hot, but don't boil.

Note:  Tempeh is a cake made of fermented soybeans and grains.  I've heard it's an acquired taste, but I personally can't get enough of it.  Look for it near the tofu in your grocery store.  If you need to avoid gluten, watch the ingredients carefully as some varieties contain barley and other glutinous grains.  If you aren't up to trying it or you can't find it, substitute one can of your favorite kind of bean.