Red Kidney Bean and Quinoa Soup

The  inspiration for this soup came from here. It was that time of the month to clean up the fridge, and fall (and winter) are perfect time to cook up new soups. Sipping warm spicy soup on a cold winter’s day is so soothing. It is the perfect lunch time meal with some rustic piece of bread.  And this one you can make as colorful as you like!

Ingredients:
1/2 cup rainbow quinoa (cooked per directions)
1 cup kidney beans (dry or use canned if you must)
tri-color peppers sliced
1 medium onion chopped
2-3 garlic cloves chopped
1 small zucchini sliced
2 carrots sliced
2-3 celery sticks sliced
1-2 tomatoes (or use canned if you must) chopped
1 cup fresh spinach chopped
some fresh basil chopped
1-2 bay leaves
1 tsp dried thyme
3-4 cups water or broth
juice of 1 lemon
salt and black pepper to taste
red crushed pepper

If using dry kidney beans, soak overnight or for 8-10 hrs. Rinse and cook kidney beans in two cups of water. I usually cook mine in a pressure cooker. Set aside.

Heat 1-2 tbsp olive oil in a large pan. Lightly fry onion and garlic. Add rest of the vegetables except spinach and lightly cook. Add broth or water and bring to boil. Reduce flame to medium low and continue cooking. Add bay leaves, chopped basil, thyme, red crushed pepper, lemon juice, salt and pepper to taste. Add the cooked kidney beans and cook on medium low for 30-40 minutes. Add  spinach and continue cooking for 5-10 minutes.

Meanwhile bring 1 cup water to boil in a separate pan. Add rainbow quinoa and cook. Add the cooked quinoa to the soup and serve hot.

A little of this and a little of that

It was clean up time again. The refrigerator was cluttered with half a bell pepper here, some zucchini there, a bunch of beans, a small floret of broccoli, some cauliflower and other remnants of vegetables I had used the last few days. Perfect time to weed out of the refrigerator and transform the left over vegetables into an ingredient for a stew or soup with my favorite choice of beans. I go through this at least once a month. It is a perfect precursor to clean the refrigerator to make room for  some fresh and vibrant produce to inspire new cooking ideas.

Nothing new here…

I pulled my 13 bean soup mix, some fresh kale and herbs from the garden and tossed all vegetables in a huge bowl with some spices and lemon juice.

Lunch was a delicious hearty 13 bean and vegetable soup. Perfect for a fall day.

Hope you are off to good fall season!

Fun with Fava

Each visit to Whole Foods I look for new ingredients to bring back to try. Beans and grains are always foremost on my mind. Being vegetarian I tend to get my protein from dairy and beans. I have never worked with fava beans, raw or dried. Period. In my mind, what I planned for it was some sort of stew possibly Morrocan. With that in mind I picked some fresh mint (unfortunately my mint perished as I was out of town for 4 weeks :-(). Fortunately kale, basil and parsley have revived since I started watering them again. So here’s what I did with my fava beans.

Ingredients:
1/4 cup fava beans
1/4 cup adzuki beans
1/4 cup lentils
broccoli florets
1-2 carrots
1-2 tomatoes
1 zucchini
1 onion
2-3 garlic cloves
mint
kale
parsley
cinnamon
ground cumin
black pepper
crushed pepper
salt to taste

Soak the beans overnight in some water. I usually like to cook my beans in a pressure cooker first. This expedites the cooking of the stew in the next step. In a large dish add the chopped vegetables and leafy greens, top with cooked beans and 4-6 cups of water and spices. Bring to a boil, lower the flame and cook for an hour or two until the flavors are infused and everything is cooked.

Top with sour cream when serving.

Red Lentil and Kale Soup

Ingredients:
1 cup dry red lentils
1/2 onion chopped
1-2 cloves garlic minced
1 tsp rosemary
1 tsp thyme
2-3 bay leaves
salt and pepper to taste
some red pepper flakes
a little lemon juice (optional)
some cherry tomatoes split in two (optional)

Bring 4-6 cups water to boil. Add the onion, garlic, red lentils, bay leaves, rosemary, thyme, pepper flakes, salt and pepper. Cook on medium flame for 20-30 minutes. Add chopped kale and tomatoes and lemon juice and cook for another 10-15 minutes. Makes 3-4 servings. Serve hot!

I modified this recipe quite a lot. You can check out the original one this is based on here

Vegetarian Moroccan Stew

Ingredients:
1 cup garbanzo beans (soaked for 8 hours or use 1 can)
1 cup dry lentils
1 sweet onion chopped
2 cups finely shredded kale
3-4 medium tomatoes diced (or 1 can)
4 large carrots chopped
1 medium turnip (substitute for potatoes)
1 tsp ground cinnamon
1 tsp ground cumin
1/2 tsp ground ginger
1/4 tsp ground cloves
1/4 tsp ground nutmeg
1/4 tsp ground turmeric
1/8 tsp curry powder
1 tsp black pepper
salt to taste
1-2 tbsp olive oil (or butter)
6 cups water or 4 cans broth
1 tbsp honey

Mango Gazpacho

Mango is such a delicious, refreshing fruit. In tropical countries it can be found in green, raw vegetable form that is abundantly used in cooking to make pickles, with lentils, rice and many more delicious dishes. Fruit on the other hand can be found in different varieties: juicy ones that can be used for juicing or eaten fresh by sucking the juice out or the harder variety that is cut and eaten. Rarely do I use the fruit version in my cooking, so it was pleasant change to try this new recipe from #Soupweek by Chef Robin White.

Anything with Mango just have to try it! Very refreshing on a hot summer day!

Check out the full recipe here

 

Curried Cauliflower Soup

I have been looking for a simple but tasty curried cauliflower soup recipe for a while and I think I finally found it and am happy with the result.

Ingredients:

1 medium cauliflower
1 small onion
1 tbsp butter
1 tbsp olive oil oil
1 tsp curry powder
salt and pepper to taste
2-3 cups of water or broth
2-3 sprigs of parsley

Cut the cauliflower into florets and rinse. Drizzle some olive oil, salt and pepper and lay out on a baking sheet or aluminum foil and roast at 450 degrees for 25 minutes.

Meanwhile heat the butter in a pan, add chopped onion and lightly fry for 5-10 minutes. Add the roasted cauliflower, 1 tsp curry powder (or as desired), 2-3 cups water or broth and simmer on low flame for 20-30 minutes until cooked. I used the curry powder from whole foods that was pretty spicy!

Remove from flame, lightly blend some of the florets with a hand blender. Garnish with some fresh parsley and enjoy!

All in all was a delicious soup. Looking forward to making it again!

Red Lentil Soup

Ingredients:

2 cups red lentils
1 small onion
2-3 cloves garlic
1-2 medium tomatoes
a little cilantro
a few red pepper flakes
salt and pepper to taste
1-2 tbsp olive oil
1 tsp cumin seeds
a pinch of turmeric

Cook the red lentils in a pressure cooker with 4 cups water. Meanwhile in a pan add 1-2 tbsp of olive oil, cumin seeds, pepper flakes and turmeric until the cumin seeds lightly brown. Add onion and garlic and fry until lightly brown. Add chopped tomatoes and continue frying. Add the cooked lentils, 1-2 cups more water and continue cooking in low to medium flame. Add salt and pepper to taste.

Sprinkle some cilantro leaves and serve hot.

Spicy Tomato & White Bean Soup

Here’s a spicy tomato and navy bean soup from my friend Pavani.

Ingredients
2 cups water
1 jalapeno or spicy green chili’s (I used 3 since I did not have any poblano peppers)
2 (16-ounce) can navy beans, drained and rinsed or I used 2 cups dry beans soaked overnight and precooked in a pressure cooker.
1 or 2 medium poblano chili, halved and seeded
1 onion, cut into 1/2-inch-thick wedges
1 to 1.5 pints grape tomatoes
1/4 cup chopped fresh cilantro
2 tablespoons fresh lime juice
1 tablespoon extra virgin olive oil
1/2 teaspoon salt
Cilantro sprigs (optional)

Combine 1 cup water and beans in a pan over medium-high heat. Combine remaining 1 cup water, poblano, jalapeno or green chili, and onion in a food processor. Pulse until vegetables are chopped. Add onion mixture to pan with the beans.

Add tomatoes and cilantro to food processor, and process until coarsely chopped. Add tomato mixture to pan; bring to a boil. Cover, reduce heat, and simmer 30 minutes or until vegetables are tender. Remove from heat. Stir in lime juice, olive oil, and salt. Garnish with cilantro sprigs, if desired.

Hearty Tomato Vegetable Soup

Came across this recipe a while back and been meaning to make it. Finally got a chance to make it today. As always I deviated from the original recipe.

Ingredients:

4-5 ripe tomatoes
1 cup kidney beans or 1 can
2-3 carrots
1-2 celery sticks
1/2 bunch broccoli
2-3 red potatoes (or I used turnip)
1/2 bunch kale (or I used spinach)
1/2 onion chopped
2-3 garlic cloves
1 tsp rosemary
1 tsp basil
1 tbsp olive oil
salt and pepper to taste

If using fresh beans, soak overnight. I usually cook my beans after soaking them for at least 8 eights in a pressure cooker.

In a medium pan heat the olive oil. Add the cut tomatoes and let cook for 5 minutes. Add one cup of water and remove from flame. Use a hand blender to blend the tomatoes into chunks. Return to low flame and add 2 more cups water. Add chopped onions and garlic and bring to a boil. Add rosemary and basil. Add the chopped kale, broccoli, carrots and celery. Add salt and pepper and beans and let cook on medium heat to up to 30 minutes. Stir as needed. I added the chopped spinach 5-10 minutes before I removed from the flame.

Serve hot with some croutons and Parmesan cheese. Delicious!

You can find the original recipe here