This week on Hive Top Chef we have the theme lemon.
I am making a plant based version of a Greek soup that I fell in love with 40 years ago.
I had a Greek boyfriend when I was younger. I knew nothing about Greek food until I met him. His Uncle owned a Greek restaurant so I was lucky to try traditional foods from Greece for the first time in my life. I loved each and every dish that I tried, such as Moussaka, tatziki, souvlaki, dolmades, and avogolemono soup.
This soup is traditionally made with chicken and eggs. I have omitted both as I no longer consume chicken or eggs. One of the features that I loved about the soup is it's tangy flavor coming from lemons.
Plant based Avgolemono soup
1 onion
4 cloves garlic
1 celery stalk diced
1 carrot diced
2 bay leaves
2 cups cooked rice
3 fresh lemons juiced
1 teaspoon thyme
1 teaspoon pepper
A pinch of turmeric
3 tablespoons nutritional yeast
1 cup soft tofu
1 cup soaked cashews
2 litres vegetable stock
2 vegetable stock cubes
2 cups hedgehog mushrooms
This soup traditionally has egg so I made a substitute using soft tofu, soaked cashews, nutritional yeast, salt, pepper, and turmeric. I would have added black salt but I couldn't find it in my cupboard. It adds a sulphur taste like eggs.
These ingredient were blended in the bullet mixer with the lemon juice.
This was my egg substitute.
For the soup base I cooked the onion, garlic, celery, and carrot in a pot with shallow oil on medium heat.
I added the soup broth and cooked down for a while simmering.
I blended half of the rice with a little water and added this to the soup.
After adding the blended rice, I added the tofu cream mixture.
I added some fresh parsley. I like flat leaf the best.
This soup traditionally has chicken in it so I substituted with mushrooms. These mushrooms are wild hedgehog mushrooms. I just happened to get them from a mushroom vendor at a local park market. These are dense and mild so a perfect substitute for chicken.
Before I added them to the soup, I cooked them in vegan butter in a pan to get rid of some moisture. I added salt and pepper.
After pan searing the mushrooms, I reserved a portion to add to the top. The rest I put in the soup.
After all these years I was able to try the soup that I once fell in love with. Although plant based this time, I felt like it was just yesterday that I had it. It was very familiar to me. I didn't miss the egg or chicken at all. It was nice and lemony just the way I remember.
Thanks for stopping by and have a great day.
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