A Little Bit Random--But Restorative, Simple Miso Soup with Chickpeas and Pasta for Souper (Soup, Salad & Sammie) Sundays

If you read this blog regularly, you may have noticed that I took an unscheduled break the past few weeks. Unfortunately asthma got the better of me and without going into a lot of details, I ended up in the hospital, then building my strength at a rehabilitation center, then home this past Wednesday where I am finishing my recovery and things are getting better every day. Although I may be a bit slow to fully jump back into blogging, I made a soup today and thought I would put up a Souper Sundays post.  

This Simple Miso Soup with Chickpeas and Pasta is a bit random and not at all traditional, but it captures the vegan version of a chicken soup I was after--good for the breathing and the soul and it is made with ingredients from my pantry and veggie drawer and is quick to throw together when you are not feeling like spending much time in the kitchen. You can of course sub in your favorite veggies and proteins, swap out the Italian couscous for noodles, or rice noodles, or rice--but below is what I did.

Simple Miso Soup with Chickpeas and Pasta
By Deb, Kahakai Kitchen
(Makes About 4 Servings)

1 Tbsp olive oil
1 medium onion, sliced thinly
1 large carrot, chopped
1 large stalk celery, chopped
3 to 4 cloves garlic, crushed (I used Dorot Gardens frozen)
3 to 4 tsp ginger, crushed (I used Dorot Gardens frozen)
1 tsp turmeric
1/2 tsp celery salt
6 cups good veggie stock (I used low sodium Not-Chicken bouillon)
1 1/2 cups canned or cooked chickpeas
3/4 cup Israeli couscous or pasta or grain of choice
3 heaping Tbsp white miso paste
tamari or soy sauce or salt to taste
chili oil to serve, optional

Heat olive in a large soup pot or heavy bottomed pot. Add onion, carrot and celery and cook for 7 to 8 minutes until veggies are softened and onions translucent. Add garlic, ginger, turmeric, and celery salt and cook for another 2 minutes. Add veggie stock and chickpeas and bring to a boil.  

Reduce heat to simmer and cook about 15 minutes, or until veggies are almost cooked. Increase heat to a boil and add couscous or pasta and cook according to package instructions. 

Place the miso into a small bowl and stir a ladle of the broth into it, whisking well until fully incorporated. Reduce soup heat to low, then add miso-broth mixture to the soup. Taste and season with tamari, soy sauce or salt--some miso brands are saltier than others--so taste and add the salt to your liking. 

Serve in bowls with chili oil if desired. Enjoy. 

Notes/Results: Simple. comforting, and hit the spot. The beans and pasta make it satisfying but you could add tofu, or for a non-veg version, add your favorite protein. I like the prominent ginger-garlic and miso flavor combination. I would happily make it again.

Recapping the last Souper Sunday entries before my unscheduled break!

Tina of Squirrel Head Manor made some Warming Vegetable Soup for the unique occasion of snow in North Florida the first week of January and said, "Talking about warming food, here is a vat of vegetable soup I made while the Korma was bubbling.  When I cut the veggies for the Korma I sliced a bit extra and tossed them in a pot for soup.  We brought this to work today to help warm our bones."

Judee of Gluten Free A-Z Blog shared Roasted Fennel, Shallot, and String Bean Salad and said, "Roasted Fennel , shallot and string bean salad is one of my favorite warm salads to serve to company. It is flavorful, kind of exotic, and makes a lovely presentation. It is perfect for your gluten free guest, your vegan guest, your nut free guest or your dairy free guest. Now a days, its seems like everyone has eating restrictions, and we need to find healthy tasty recipes that work for everyone.

Thanks to Tina and Judee for joining me a few weeks ago--I look forward to seeing your new dishes linked up soon. ;-)

About Souper Sundays:

Souper Sundays is back with a new format of a picture link each week where anyone interested can post their soups, salads, or sandwiches any time during the week and I post a recap of the entries the following week.)

(If you aren't familiar with Souper Sundays, you can read about of the origins of it here. 

If you would like to join in Souper (Soup, Salad, and Sammie) Sundays, I would love to have you! Here's how...

To join in this week's Souper Sunday's linkup with your soup, salad or sandwich:

• Link up your soup (stew, chili, soupy curries, etc. are fine), salad, or sandwich dish, (preferably one from the current week or month--but we'll take older posts too) on the picture link below and leave a comment on this post so I am sure not to miss you. Also please see below for what to do on the post you link up to be included.

and 

On your entry post (on your blog):

• Mention Souper (Soup, Salad & Sammies) Sundays at Kahakai Kitchen and link back to this post. (Not to be a pain but it's polite and only fair to link back to events you link up at--so if you link a post up here without linking back on your post, it will be removed.)
• You are welcome to add the Souper Sundays logo to your post and/or blog (optional).

An InLinkz Link-up

Have a happy, healthy week!