Sunday Soup

Lately Jay and I have been making a big batch of soup on he weekends so we have a quick, healthy meal on deck every day for lunch.

Last week I made chickpea "mulligatawny". I'm using quotes here because I have no basis for an authentic recipe. This is just my version of a vegetarian curry soup.  This recipe makes eight large servings (1.5-2 cups each).

INGREDIENTS

1 tbsp olive oil

1 large onion, diced

1 large carrot, sliced thinly 

2 celery stalks, sliced

1 green pepper, diced 

2 tsp cumin

2 tsp tumeric

1 tbsp curry powder

1/2 tsp ginger powder (or 1.5 tsp of fresh, grated ginger)

1 tsp cracked black pepper

4 cups vegetable broth

1 tbsp of salt (or to taste)

1/2 cup dried yellow split peas

3 cups (or two cans) canned chickpeas, drained and rinsed 

1 can of evaporated fat free milk (roughly a cup)

All right. Looks like a lot of ingredients, but trust me, once the chopping is done, the majority of your work is over. 

Heat oil over a medium heat in a very large pot (I use my biggest stock pot). Add chopped veg (and grated ginger if you're using fresh). Sauté until slightly tender and onions are translucent. 

Add dried spices (except the salt) and toast them for a minute or two stirring with the veg.  When the spices are very fragrant stir in the broth and as it's warming up add some salt to taste.  

Bring to a boil and add dried yellow peas.   Cover and reduce to a simmer. Simmer for about 45 minutes or until split peas are tender. Add chickpeas and evaporated milk.  Heat through

If you like a thicker consistency you can use a hand blender to whiz some of the soup up. 

I use a canning funnel (a wide mouth funnel that fits over Mason jars) to pour the soup into individual jars (mine hold about 2 cups).  

If I put the lids on while the soup is really hot it will cause the lids to suction onto the jars which makes me feel a little safer when I throw one into my purse. 

After the lids are on I leave the soup to cool completely on the counter before storing them in the fridge. Since we haven't actually gone through the process of sterilizing our jars and canning them properly the soup is not shelf stable but it will last in the fridge at least a week. 

Do you have an easy make-ahead lunch you love? We're always looking for ideas at our house!