Saturday, March 12, 2011

Recipe: Pumpkin Soup with Amazing Chick Pea Croutons

This recipe serves two hungry vegans! I like it with a bit of greenery on the side - try sugar snap peas or snow peas for some crunch.
The amount of soup you end up with will depend on the size of your veggies. If you're using butternut pumpkin you may want to skip the sweet potato, but when using jap pumpkin I prefer the taste with some sweet potato. 
If you have some carrots that need to be eaten you could even throw those in too. 




Simple Pumpkin Soup 
Half a jap pumpkin, peeled and chopped into chunks.
A few small sweet potatoes, peeled and cut into slightly larger chunks.
(Optional: one or two peeled and chopped carrots)
One finely diced big onion 
3 cloves garlic, crushed, finely chopped
Rosemary (to taste)
2 teaspoons veggie salt or stock mix (eg Vegeta)
Pepper to taste 
(Optional: a splash of coconut milk)




Amazing Chickpea "Croutons"
1 can of chickpeas, well rinsed and picked over. 
6 to 10 cloves garlic
2 tbsp soy sauce
1 teaspoon wholegrain mustard 
1 teaspoon paprika 
1 1/2 tsp maple syrup (or honey if you're not vegan)














1. Saute the onions in olive oil on low heat. When they're translucent and soft, add garlic and rosemary. Cook till the garlic is fragrant, but not brown.


2. Throw in the chopped veggies. Cover with water, taking care not to add too much, then boil till veggies are super soft.


Now is a good time to preheat the oven to 200*C.


3. Peel the garlic cloves, remove any hard bits at the stem end and slice in half lengthways.


4. In a small bowl, mix up the wet "crouton" ingredients. Put in the chickpeas and garlic and mix up till everything's wet. 
Tip onto a baking tray - you want them to sit in one layer without spreading out, so push them all to one end to be close together. This way the juices bake onto the chickpeas, not the tray. 


5. Bake chickpeas for 10 minutes, pull out and stir around, then bake for 5 or 10 more minutes till crispy, sticky and delicious. 


6. While they're baking, check the soup veggies. When they're soft and slushy, mush them up or use a bar-mix with a metal stick to reach soup consistency. You could also use a food processor, but that's a lot of dishes! Add a bit of pepper, the veggie salt, and taste. You might want a splash of coconut milk if you're into a creamier soup. 

7. Get any greens you want to eat on the side. Dump chickpea "croutons" onto the top of your bowls of soup and ENJOY. YUM.


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