So as of, what, yesterday? my mom is a vegan cooking MANIAC. Christmas was ta-ta-ta-tasty this year! And the zenith of tasty was this winter root vegetable soup she made. It has quickly replaced veggie split pea as my favorite vegan soup, it is that good. It also happens to be gluten- and soy-free, so, soup for everyone! Even those of us who ruin everything, ’cause this soup is easy-peasy. If you get it right, and you WILL get it right, the soup will taste chowdery and look the color of pumpkin. Mmmm.

There’s an hour-ish of down-time in this recipe where you’re just waiting for vegetables to soften, so you might like to, say, write some New Year resolutions, or you can do what I did, which is watch Julie & Julia, because it’s pretty awesome and inspiring and Meryl Streep is perfect as Julia Child. That is, if you can look past the animal-cooking (difficult, even for this movie) and the fact that real-life Julie Powell is an unapologetic butcher.

ANYWHO. Let’s make some soup.

Pureed Chickpea and Root Vegetable Soup
makes 8-10 servings

• 2 small sweet potatoes or one large one
• 1 yellow squash
• 2 turnips
• 1 parsnip
• 1/2 a large yellow onion
• 3 carrots
• 2 celery stalks
• 1 cup dry chickpeas, soaked in water overnight
• 2 tbsp chopped chives
• 2 tbsp grated fresh ginger

1. In a large pot place soaked chickpeas and cover in water, enough to fill the pot about 2/3 of the way. Bring to a boil and cook chickpeas on medium heat for a half hour.

2. Meanwhile, wash and cube the veggies into half-inch pieces.

3. After the chickpeas have been cooking for a half hour, add the veggies. Cook for another hour, or until everything is soft but not falling apart.

4. Pour as much soup as will fit into a blender, and blend till smooth. Do this till all the soup is blended. if you have an immersion blender, use that instead, fortunate soup-maker.

5. Add salt and pepper to taste. This is enough soup in which to bathe a small child, so you’ll want to add more than you think is necessary.

6. Eat! And let us know what you think or if you come up with any improvements to the recipe. If you just love it as it is, you can thank my mom. Bon appetit!

5 Comments

1. 
   Comment by

   Richard

   on December 31, 2009 at 10:10 am #

   Have a healthy and harty new year. Richard Fink

2. 
   Comment by

   Richard

   on December 31, 2009 at 10:15 am #

   Have a healthy and harty new year.

   Second thought……..after a discussion with a waiter about winter fruits to serve for dessert, apples and pears only came to mind. What other season fruits do you recommend that are not tart or sour?

   Richard Fink

   Richard Fink

3. 
   Comment by

   James Reno

   on December 31, 2009 at 3:25 pm #

   Very good. Always looking for more vegan recipes.

   To Your Health!
   James Reno (editor)
   Raw-Food-Repair.com

4. 
   Comment by

   VeganBride dotcom

   on December 31, 2009 at 11:13 pm #

   HAPPY NEW YEAR! To celebrate, head over the http://www.yourholisticagent.com/blog & enter the EARTH CAFE RAW VEGAN CHEESECAKE GIVEAWAY! Winner to be announced Jan. 7th, so enter asap & good luck!!

5. 
   Comment by

   Fred

   on January 6, 2010 at 1:23 pm #

   Thanks for posting this receipe on the blog.

   My wife made it the other night and it came out great.
   She did sub canned chickpeas in the recipe as her taste preference ( a shortcut to overnight soaking too).