Amy's Peanut Soup Recipe

Monday's vegan dinner hit the spot. It's adapted from a recipe my friend Amy sent me. Most of the adaptations are marked with *s, but I might have missed marking some of the changes I made between her original and my bastardized version. We followed it with starfruit bread from Mango Hill farm that was packed full of butter and eggs and yogurt and decidedly not vegan. 

Amy's Peanut Soup Recipe

45 minutes plus prep

INGREDIENTS

• 1 red bell pepper (capsicum) chopped (125 grams)
• 2 yellow onions, finely chopped
• pinch of salt
• neutral oil
• 2 Tablespoons fresh ginger, grated
• 1 Tablespoon crushed garlic
• 1 Tablespoon cumin/jeera
• 1/4 tsp turmeric
• *250 g mushrooms, roughly diced
• *Eggplant, roughly diced
• 1/2 pumpkin peeled & cubed
• 1 can diced tomatoes 
• 4 cups hot water
• 4 tsp stock powder
• 3/4 cup peanut butter, any variety (180g) 
• 500 g greens (seijan, bhaji, moringa, malabar)
• Chilies, jalapenos, sambal or sriracha sauce to your heat preference
• *1/3 cup Cilantro
• *2 Tbsp lemon juice
• * Cooked rice or quinoa for serving

DIRECTIONS

1. Heat oil in the bottom of a soup pot and sauté the red bell pepper (capsicum) and onions with a pinch of salt until the onions are translucent, about 5 minutes. 
2. Add ginger, garlic and cumin/jeera, eggplant and mushrooms and sauté for another 2 minutes or until fragrant. 
3. Add pumpkin cubes and stir to combine, then add the tomatoes with their juices and the stock powder + water. Simmer gently until the pumpkin pieces are tender, about 15 minutes. 
4. Place peanut butter in a medium bowl, add one or two ladles of hot soup and stir until emulsified, then pour the mixture back into the soup. Reduce heat to low and stir gently to combine.
5. Toss in the greens and the chilies. Cook on low to wilt the greens, maybe 5 minutes, stir frequently to prevent scorching. 
6. Turn off heat and stir in the lemon juice, garnish with cilantro and chopped peanuts. Serve over rice or quinoa. 

Serves 4 to 6.

Serving suggestions - over rice, with sourdough bread

Vegan Pizza

Vegan Pizza 

INGREDIENTS

Socca pizza crust

• 1 cup chickpea flour (chana besan) 
• 1 cup water
• ¼ cup olive oil, divided
• 1 to 2 garlic cloves, pressed or minced
• ¼ teaspoon salt, I’m partial to large grained salts with some flavor to them, but any salt will do

Pizza toppings

• 1 avocado, mashed (your mouth won’t know this isn’t cheese, it’s magic)
• 1 cup spaghetti sauce (I told you it was what was in my fridge)

(whatever is in the fridge that looks like a pizza topping. I used these today, tomorrow it will probably be something different)

• handful of fresh basil
• 1 thinly sliced eggplant
• 1 thinly sliced red onion
• handful of sliced black olives

INSTRUCTIONS

• Mix the chickpea flour (chana besan), water, 2 tablespoons olive oil, and minced garlic together. Dough will be very wet. Resist the urge to add more flour. Cover the bowl and let it rest at room temperature for 1 hour to let the chickpea flour soak up the water.
• Turn on the broiler with a rack positioned 8 inches from heat. Place a 10-inch cast iron skillet (or something ovenproof anyway) in the oven to preheat.
• Once the cast iron skillet is hot, using oven mitts carefully remove it from the oven. Pour in 1 tablespoon of the olive oil and swirl the pan around so the oil is evenly distributed. Pour in the chickpea batter and place the skillet under the broiler. Cook for 8 minutes or so until the socca is set and the edges are browning and pulling away from the sides of the pan. Remove from oven, turn off broiler and turn oven to 425 degrees Fahrenheit.
• With a large spatula, raise the socca and add the last of the olive oil to the skillet. Flip the socca over and top with spaghetti sauce, the smushed up avocado, and then whatever toppings you decided to use.
• Return the skillet to the oven and bake for another 8 to 10 minutes, until the veggies are browned and the socca is crisp. Remove from oven and let cool, slice into 4-6 pieces and serve.

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There's a story here (there's always a story) but it's going to have to wait for another day. In the meantime, enjoy plant based whole foods and tell the people you care about that you love them.

More info on socca flatbreads at https://www.thekitchn.com/how-to-make-socca-a-naturally-gluten-free-chickpea-flatbread-cooking-lessons-from-the-kitchn-169513