Wild Rice and Chickpea Vegetable Soup
1/2 cup wild rice
1 medium onion, chopped
olive oil
6 cloves garlic, minced
4 teaspoon dried sweet basil
10 brown mushrooms, chopped
1 - 14.5 oz can diced tomatoes
1 - 14.5 oz can chickpeas
4 cups vegetable broth
2 big handfuls fresh spinach, washed, destemmed, torn in to bite size pieces
Salt and pepper, to taste
1) Prepare the rice by placing the rice in 2 cups water. Bring to boil and then reduce heat to a simmer, cover, and cook for 45 to 55 minutes or until rice is soft and chewy.
2) In a large pot, cook the onion in a drizzle of olive oil until they are sweating. Add garlic. When both are fragrant, add basil and stir well. Stir in mushrooms, adding a little broth, as needed, to help them cook. When mushrooms are soft, add tomatoes, chickpeas, and broth. Bring to a simmer.
3) Add the cooked rice and the spinach to the soup. Allow flavors to blend while the spinach melts into the soup, but not long because you want the spinach to retain its beautiful green color when you serve it. Taste and adjust seasonings if needed. Enjoy!
Source of recipe: This is what I could remember from my dear friend Sheila's recipe. We used to make it all the time at her restaurant The Blue Moose Cafe, where it was known as Wild Chix Soup.
SO HOW'D IT GO?
This soup was awesome! Tasty and pretty simple to make, I only wish wild rice wasn't so expensive.
Holy chickpea goodness this soup kicks ass! :D I added some carrot and celery and cut back on the basil to 2 teaspoons, but kept the rest the same. The combo of chickpeas and wild rice is phenomenol. Thank you so much for sharing this! I will be making it often....
This looks like it's gonna be one of my meals this week...Thx