Chickpeas & Spice

Growing up, one of my favorite meals was the beef stew that my father made. His stew took several hours of simmering to soften the beef, but this vegetarian version only takes 1 hr. This stew reminds me of all the great parts of the stew from my childhood. It is filling, has lots of veggies for different flavors and textures, and really warms me up on a cold and rainy day. The addition of halved garlic cloves not only reduces prep time, it also provides a sweet and garlicky surprise every couple of bites. If you don’t love garlic the way we do, feel free to mince it to reduce its prominence, or omit it entirely.

Like many of our recipes, this recipe is quite flexible. You could omit the onions and garlic if that is your preference. Potatoes could be replaced with parsnips if you are sensitive to nightshades. And white beans or chickpeas could easily be added (either blended into the liquid or chunky) for more protein. Let us know in the comments how you alter it, and how it turns out!

Serves: 6

Time: 1 hr

Ingredients

olive oil

4 cups cremini mushrooms (11 oz)

1 onion (11 oz)

6 cloves garlic, halved

3 carrots (1/2 lb)

4 potatoes (2 lb)

1 tsp dried thyme

pinch of red pepper flakes

1 1/2 tsp salt

5 cups veg stock (gluten-free option, soy-free option)

1/2 tsp pepper

1 bay leaf

1 cup peas (frozen)

1 bunch of kale, de-stemmed and thinly sliced

1 tsp apple cider vinegar

Slice and saute the mushrooms until browned, over medium heat, about 20 minutes, adding pepper after 15 minutes. In a large soup pot, saute the chopped onions and carrots in olive oil until starting to soften about 14 minutes. Add cubed potatoes, halved garlic cloves, veg stock, 1 1/2 tsp of salt, thyme, pepper flakes, and bay leaf. Bring it to a boil, turn down to a simmer and simmer for about 20 minutes or until the potatoes are tender.

Put the cooked mushrooms in a blender with 3 chunks of potato from the soup. Add hot veg stock from your soup until you cover the mushrooms and chunks of potato. Blend until smooth. Pour this back into the pot of stew and add apple cider vinegar, peas, and kale. Stir to combine new ingredients and simmer for 5 more minutes or until peas are hot and greens are wilted. Enjoy!

I seasoned this soup with rosemary and thyme this time (haha) around, but any herbs can be used to give the soup a richer and more interesting flavor. I generally grab whatever herbs I have in the kitchen from previous recipes or in the spice cabinet. Some other nice options include: oregano, sage, bay leaves, and hot pepper flakes. If you prefer it with more or less spice, feel free to add or remove some of the cayenne.

serves: 6

time: 1 hr

Ingredients

1/2 onion, (1 cup) diced

4 cloves garlic, minced

2 large carrots, (1/2 lb) diced

1 small zucchini, diced

3 cups seasoned white beans* (2 cans)

4 medium waxy potatoes, 1 1/2 lbs (yukon golds or red potatoes work well), cut into 3/4 inch cubes

1/2 bunch lacinato kale, chiffonaded, about 3 cups loosely packed

6 cups hot veggie broth

1/8 tsp cayenne

one sprig rosemary, de-stemmed and minced

1/2 tsp dried thyme

parsley

salt

1/2 tsp apple cider vinegar

Put a pot (about 6 cups) of salty water on the stove to boil. The water should taste about as salty as sea water so that the potatoes soak in the water and are perfectly salted when done. Cut your potatoes into 3/4 inch cubes and add to the water (it’s okay if it isn’t yet boiling). Cook the potatoes until they are fork tender but not falling apart, about 10 minutes. Drain and set aside.

In a large soup pot, sweat the onions and carrots on medium low heat for about 7 minutes before adding the garlic and the zucchini. Cook this mixture for about 10 minutes before adding your seasonings: rosemary, thyme, a pinch of cayenne, and a generous pinch of salt. Mix all this together and allow to cook for about 2 more minutes.

Pour the broth over the veggies and stir. Bring up to a simmer before adding the beans and potatoes. Once the potatoes and beans are hot, add the kale, cooking 5 more minutes until the kale wilts. Add the apple cider vinegar and season to taste.

Garnish with chopped parsley and enjoy on a cold rainy night.

*Cooking white beans from dry:

In the Instant Pot:

To cook the white beans in an Instant Pot, add 1 1/3 cups of dried white beans to the pot. Cover the beans with water (in the small Instant Pot this is about 6 cups of water), season with 1 1/2 tbsp kosher salt, 2 cloves garlic, 1 tbsp cumin, a sprig of rosemary, and 1/8 tsp cayenne. Set the Instant Pot to pressure cook for 28 minutes letting depressurize naturally. Drain and rinse before adding to the dish.

On the stove:

If you don’t have an Instant Pot, you can easily cook white beans from scratch with a little planning. First you will need to soak the beans which can be done one of two ways. 1. you can soak them overnight making sure they have enough water and space to double in size or 2. you can put them in a pot and bring to boil, then turn off the water and let soak for one hour. Again, make sure you have enough water and space that they can double in size.

Once you have soaked your beans, rinse them and then put in a pot with salty water. These will be cooking for about 2 hours so you don’t want as much salt as you would use for pasta, but you do want to add enough that you can taste the salt. The best way to get good at this is to practice. Each time you salt the water, taste it and when the beans are done taste them to see if they are well salted. A well salted bean should taste flavorful but not salty. If it tastes like you are eating salt, you added too much. If the bean lacks flavor then you didn’t have enough salt.

For this recipe, also add 1 1/2 tbsp kosher salt, 2 cloves garlic, 1 tbsp cumin, a sprig of rosemary, and 1/8 tsp cayenne to the white beans as they cook. Cook the beans until they are soft but not falling apart (this will take 1.5-2 hours). We recommend checking the beans at about an hour and then every 20 minutes until they are soft but not disintegrating. Make sure your pot has enough water as I have definitely cooked all the water off before and burnt the beans! This may seem like a lot of work, however once you get the hang of it the work is almost all passive and the reward is high: beans cooked from scratch taste much better and are much cheaper!