Polka-dot beetroot and chickpea soup

Not really a soup, not really a stew, this gorgeous red bowlful of pinkish-orange chickpeas is sweet yet savoury and full of earthy, autumnal flavours.

This was a last minute lunchbox filler, and I think the girl did good! I ran out of the delicious kedgeree I made last weekend on Thursday, so Friday needed a no-effort lunch.

Cue: Beetroot and carrot soup in the fridge. Delicious, but not really filling enough. Aah! But I cooked up and batch- froze a huge quantity of chickpeas with garlic, diced carrot and celery (just enough to flavour). 30 seconds of running the chickpeas under the cold tap and they mixed nicely with my soup (which is almost a puree).

Lunchtime at work- chickpeas are defrosted, add a splash of hot water and microwave for three minutes. Not bad!

How to make the chickpeas.
I don't like the thought of tinned chickpeas-  I am sure cooking them from dry is much healthier as there are no preservatives to worry about.
I used 500g dried chickpeas (garbanzo beans) which I then soak with two cloves of crushed garlic for eight hours or overnight to plump back up.
Drain them and wash.
I cooked these with a diced carrot, and one diced stick of celery, 2 large bay leaves and some more crushed garlic, so that they would take on good flavours, and not just taste earthy and boring- something which is often labelled at these useful pulses.
I froze these in small batches.
Perfect to add to soups, stews, curries etc- food for thought!

Fava Bean Inspiration

I bought a kilo or two of dried fava (better known as broad) beans a couple of months ago. I love beans- they are healthy and nutritious and fill your tummy. Dried pulses keep for AGES and are cheap protein. They also require forethought, soaking and boiling, which means doing them for one is just not going to happen.

But this Mexican inspired fava/ chili/ mint soup looks like a winner for a future WONDER activity and need to cook for a dozen. Heidi Swanson, one of my kitchen inspirations, doesn't pre-soak the beans, which means that this is more likely to get cooked! I love the combination of chili and mint- best known perhaps in chicken tikka with mint yoghurt. The freshness and bitter-sweetness with the spice is incredible. The cheese/ chili/ mint combo here would, I imagine, bring similar qualities.


Will keep you posted!

Let me know if you have any other fava bean recipes. I imagine that they could also make a good curry.

Hum Hum Bean Soup

I needed to make space in the freezer the other day- I had made a much larger batch of fruit compote (rhubarb, pear and apple) than I had intended which needed freezing so that it didn't go off, so I took out the load of cooked beans that I had put in there before for similar reasons.

I had about a kilo of large white beans, boiled, once I had soaked them overnight out of their dry state (by far the cheapest way to buy beans is dried- you're not carting loads of water around) if I remember, with pepper, onions and dried red pepper flakes. Probably a sprinkling of chili flakes went in, maybe some herbs and a couple of bay leaves.

Also found in the freezer- delicious home made chicken stock (don't bin anything until all the goodness has been taken from it!). I had cooked this up with some herbs, bayleaf and some wine that noone was going to drink.

Combining the beans and the stock in a pot with some water, some more unloved red wine, another onion and some of the canned tomatoes that I always have on hand, it came together into a lovely bean stew, which I blitzed to turn into a nourishing and delicious soup. I even gave some to my veg- detesting colleague (he had dated a vegan) and he was surprised to find himself enjoying it.

Now I need a way to use up 2l of fruit puree! Ideas, anyone?