[VeganMoFo!] Day 2: Lemon Soup with Chickpeas and Kale

It's VeganMoFo! What's VeganMoFo? Find out at http://www.veganmofo.com

A few months ago, I was chatting with my friend Eric, who's got some stellar recipes over at AstroNOMZ that you might want to check out if you like deliciousness. He was doing something with chickpeas, and somehow his mentioning chickpeas set off a craving so fierce and insatiable that I must have tried a dozen new chickpea recipes in a month. And believe it or not, I'm not even sick of them. Chickpeas are GREAT.

So, at some point during the Vegan Month of Chickpeas (VeganMOoCh?), I was flipping through my "I totally have to try this recipe someday..." file and found this Avgolemono-without-Avgo recipe from my friend Desdemona's blog (also chock-full of magnificent recipes). Just a few days earlier, I had been playing around with the Chickpea Rice Soup with a Little Kale recipe, and ended up putting quite a bit of lemon juice in it (and, well, a lot of kale...I don't really know how to do "a little" kale). So I took some elements from that recipe...particularly, the chickpeas, and the kale, and the rice...and started cooking in the general direction of the Avgolemono recipe, and suddenly I had this elegant pot of lemony-wonderful soup.

I make this pretty often now! Here is how I made it this week.

 2 Tbsp soy butter (or olive oil, but I like it much better with the soy butter)
1 large onion, coarsely chopped
a handful of fresh chopped dill
a handful of fresh chopped parsley
2 tsp dried oregano
2 tsp dried thyme
1 tsp black pepper
1/2 cup apple cider vinegar
1/2 cup lemon juice
5 cups vegetable broth
2 1/2 cups soy milk
1 tbsp cornstarch
4 cups chickpeas (pre-cooked or from a can)
1/2 lb kale, chopped into bite-size pieces (I like the stems, you can chuck 'em if you don't)
1/2 cup nutritional yeast (optional; I like the texture and flavor it adds, but if you don't like it or can't get it, don't sweat it)

Melt the soy butter (or heat the olive oil) in a large soup pot. Add the onion and saute till translucent. Add the herbs, cook for a minute or two, then deglaze with the apple cider vinegar (pour it in and stir to "clean up" the bits that are sticking to the bottom of your pot). Add the lemon juice and vegetable broth, bringing it to a boil. While it's getting ready to boil, whisk the cornstarch into the soymilk until it dissolves. Pour this mixture in with the broth, bring it back to a boil, then add the chickpeas and kale. Turn the heat down to "low" and let it simmer, covered, for about 10-12 minutes. Stir in the nutritional yeast and add salt if needed. I'll usually add a teaspoon of Vulcan Fire Salt at this point, because it's GREAT. I serve it over brown basmati rice (the best rice!)