Hummus Soup

                                       from VeganYumYum

Holy crap, this soup was so fricking good. It tasted strangely reminiscent of broccoli cheese soup from days of yore. But it's healthier 'cause it's got ever-awesome and nutritional quinoa in it.

I did, however, make quite a few adjustments to the original recipe, mostly because I was suffering from a momentary measuring-deficiency the day I made it.

The soup calls for 2 cups hummus. I looked at my small can of chickpeas and was like, Hm--this has 2 cups of chickpeas in it. So it will make 2 cups of hummus.

Did it?

I remain unsure.

I suspect, however, that once you mash 2 cups of chickpeas into a mushy of hummus, it ends up being far less than 2 cups.

And when I used just that amount of hummus for the soup, it initially was INCREDIBLY thin soup, and the hummus wasn't powerfully flavorful.

So: I figured it probably WASN'T 2 cups of hummus after all. But I didn't want to take the time to make another batch of hummus. So instead took another small can of chickpeas, drained it, and mashed it up and tossed those in.

The end result: motherf-ing good!

I also don't have chipotle powder, so I just used some chipotles in adobo--about 1-1/2 minced.

I've asterisked all the parts I changed. If you want to see the original, the link's below.

Brilliant idea though. And seriously so very winter-weather yumtastic. So thanks, Melody!



INGREDIENTS:

• 2.5 T. olive oil*


• 1 onion, diced


• 1 red bell pepper, chopped finely*


• 8 cloves garlic, minced


• 1 t. dried basil


• several grates fresh nutmeg


• 1 to 2 chipotles in adobo, chopped finely*


• 16 oz frozen broccoli florets (or 1 pound fresh)


• 2 small cans of chickpeas, drained*


• 1.5 T. tahini*


• 2 T. water


• 2 T. lemon juice*


• 4 c. water/stock


• bouillon cube if using water


• 1/2 c. quinoa


• 1/4 c. nutritional yeast


• salt/pepper to taste


• 1 T umeboshi vinegar (optional)

DIRECTIONS

Toss 1.5 T. of your olive oil, 2 cloves garlic, 1 small can of chickpeas (drained), 1.5 T. tahini, 2 T. water, and 2 T. lemon juice into a food processor and process until smooth.

Take your other can of drained chickpeas and mash (with a potato-masher or whatever else suits you) until none of the chickpeas are whole any longer. (They don't have to be perfectly smashed into nothingness, so don't stress over that. But make sure they're all somewhat mashed.)

Saute the onion, pepper, remaining garlic, basil, nutmeg and chipotles until the onion is soft. Add the broccoli, hummus (as prepared above), mashed chickpeas, and stock. Bring to a boil for several minutes.

Turn heat down to low and add the quinoa. Cover and simmer for 15 minutes.

Turn off heat and stir in the nutritional yeast and umeboshi vinegar (if using) then season with salt and lots of freshly ground black pepper.

(Original recipe from Melomeals)