Chickpea Tomato Soup with Herb Dumplings

Maybe you remember a while ago, I posted a chicken and dumplings recipe my mom makes that I was trying to make vegetarian.  I think I can forget about that now, because this is an awesome alternative!  You could probably omit the cheese in the dumplings if you don't have any, but it gives them a really nice taste!  Recipe from here.

Makes about 3 servings, maybe?

1/2 of an onion, chopped

2 cloves garlic

1 tsp cumin

1/2 tsp coriander

1/4 tsp chili powder

2 cups veg stock

1 can diced tomatoes

1/2 can (about 1 cup) chickpeas

1 cup flour

1 1/2 tsp baking powder

1/4 tsp salt

2 Tb butter, chopped

About 1/4 cup grated Parmesan (or Asiago or Romano)

1 Tb dried herbs of choice - I used dill, basil, rosemary (original recipe calls for 2 Tb fresh)

1/4 cup milk

1. In a medium or large saucepan, saute onion and garlic in oil for a few minutes.  Add spices, stir.
   
2. Add stock, tomatoes, and chickpeas. 
   
3. Bring to a boil, cover and lower heat.  Simmer for 10 minutes.
   
4. While soup is simmering, make dumplings.  In a small bowl, stir together flour, baking powder, and salt.
   
5. Add butter and mash in with fingers until mixture resembles coarse crumbs.  Stir in cheese and herbs.
   
6. Slowly add milk and stir just until dough comes together, adding more milk if necessary, but try to use bare minimum of milk possible.
   
7. Form dough into a ball and cut ball into 8 pieces.  Roll the pieces into little balls.
   
8. Add dumplings to soup, cover, and simmer 20 minutes, turning dumplings halfway through.

Thai Coconut Corn Soup

This is from a cookbook that I do not own; I found it posted online.  But the original recipe is in the book preview on the Amazon page.  I made some minor modifications.  Also, the original recipe had double the ingredient amounts and was supposed to serve 6.

Yield: about 3 servings

1 clove garlic, minced

3-4 green onions, sliced (separate white and green parts)

1/2 medium red bell pepper, cut into short, narrow strips

One 15-ounce can light coconut milk

3/4 cup rice milk*

1 c frozen corn

1 teaspoons curry powder

1/2 teaspoon salt, or to taste

Cilantro to garnish (optional)

1. In a pot, saute the garlic, the white parts of the green onions, and the bell pepper in a small amount of olive oil for 2 to 3 minutes.

 

2. Add the coconut milk, rice milk, corn, curry powder, and the green parts of the green onions.

 

3. Bring to a rapid simmer, then lower the heat. Cover and simmer gently for 5 minutes. Season with salt and remove from the heat.

 

4. Serve, topping with cilantro.

*I usually drink only soy milk but I bought rice milk for this recipe becuase it is milder than soy milk.  I think regular milk (especially skim) would probably work.

**The store did not have red peppers, only orange, so that's why they look orange in the picture.