Chickpea Soup for the Vegan Soul

All I see are [rai]sins.

And all you could choose to see are sins and flaws and erred thinking. But what would you miss in the process?

Chickpea Soup for the vegan, gluten-free soul I invented while under the weather. Is it soul food? Not in the regional sense of the word. The best vegan (and incidentally, GF) soul food I had was the quinoa chilli at Soul Dog Cafe in Poughkeepsie, NY. However, in the sense of refreshing my soul, yes, this soup fit the bill.

Chickpea Soup

1/2 pound GF pasta (I used brown rice spaghetti)

2 litres boiling water

1 teaspoon veg broth bouillon (I used Better than Bouillon; you can also do 1 litre veg stock and 1 litre water)

1 clove garlic, pressed or grated

1-inch chunk ginger, grated

hearty dash of cayenne pepper

freshly ground black pepper to taste

2 16-ounce cans chickpeas, rinsed and drained

1 teaspoon miso (I used brown rice miso; always check to see if your miso is VGF)

In a large pot, prepare the pasta according to package directions. When al dente, drain off the pasta cooking water and return the pot of pasta to the stove. Add the boiling water, bouillon, garlic, ginger, peppers, and chickpeas. Bring to a boil and cook for five minutes or until the pasta has softened to your liking. Remove from the heat and stir in the miso.

Serve over kale or other sturdy greens. I prefer to let the hot soup flash-cook the greens rather than boil the hell out of them in the soup itself.

Nota bene: For the love of Peter Murphy, I do not advocate eating one's feelings. That is not what the comfort food/soul food concept means to me. The comfort food/soul food concept indicates food that is satisfying on multiple levels, from the preparation to consumption (a phrase which sounds like "from conception to natural death," a phrase which has been rattling around my head of late, dunno why).

Parting Shots:
What I call having "vegan pica:" when I wake up late morning and eat a random brunch with little bits of many different foods. Viz: granola, tahini, steamed kale, yellow watermelon, chocolate raspberry protein powder (rehydrated with tea), cinnamon and turmeric, kombucha, green tea, Goth pills (aka: vitamins).

Bought some Engine 2 Brown Rice Tortillas on a lark (OK, how to make dinner in seven seconds: tortillas, hommos, and frozen greens) after work. Turns out I can go back to my fav childhood snack, peanut butter on a tortilla. This morning I had an almond butter-flaxseed not-quesadilla. 

Crisping the tortilla prevented me from quarter-folding it and I ended up with almond butter on my hand and canteen.

Delicious! I see many possibilities for these wraps, particularly involving vegan cheeze.