Thursday, August 28, 2008

Yoga Soup

I've noticed a funny thing: the more yoga I do, the less meat I want to eat. I've been on a bit of a yoga binge lately~ my pass was about to run out and I hate to waste money! Plus, kundalini yoga chills me out like no other legal substance or activity I've ever found.
But it's odd, afterwards I usually crave lentils. Last night I'd been to five classes in seven days, yeah! But what to eat for dinner? The exercise speeds up my metabolism, so I couldn't wait long for food to cook and was out of tofu. (Yes, I've learned to make tofu worth eating. Well done, Philly girl!)
Then I remembered, I have those white beans in the fridge I made from scratch... wow, it's been a summer of beans, hasn't it? I like to saute a mirepoix (which is diced onion, celery and carrot, the holy trinity of cooking) with a clove of garlic, throw in a pound of dried great northern beans and add a bay leaf. Pour in six cups of water and let the slow cooker do its magic on medium-high for about 6 hours. I add a spoonful or so of salt at the end, and voila! Healthy deliciousness.
Here's the soup:
Yum!

Here's the recipe:

Nearly Instant Yoga Soup
serves 1 hungry yogini or 2 as first course

1 1/2 cups cooked white beans (drain and rinse a can's worth if you're not hanging out making beans from scratch)
1 handful fresh spinach
1 clove garlic, chopped
1 1/2 tsp. grated fresh ginger
1 tsp. garam masala
1 tsp. cumin
1 tsp. curry (if it needs it)
hot sauce to taste (sambal olek if you've got it!)
salt and freshly ground pepper to taste

1 diced plum tomato
2 tbs. chopped peanuts
handful of fried shallots (only if you have them on hand)

Put beans and enough water to thin to your liking (about 3/4 to 1 1/4 cups) in a medium pot over medium-high heat. Add spinach and next 5 ingredients. Bring to boil and simmer 3 minutes.
Pour soup into blender or food processor. Whiz until pureed (thin with more water if desired). Return to pot and add hot sauce, salt and pepper to taste. Heat through 2 minutes more.
Pour soup into bowl and sprinkle with tomato, chopped peanuts and fried shallots.
Sat nam!