Okay... I was so excited about my year of soups, that I just added a new soup to my repertoire. I made the Spicy Peanut Eggplant and Shallot Stew from Veganomicon (by Isa and Terry over at the Post Punk Kitchen).
I made a few modifications…
First, I cut back on the oil. The original recipe called for ¼ cup peanut oil (mostly added a Tablespoon at a time while the various veggies and spices are added). I used a total of 2 ½ Tablespoons--- and I used Canola. I did a full T when I initially caramelized the shallots, and then another T when adding the onions. With the ginger and hot pepper (I used jalapeno), I just added ½ T.
Second, I haven’t (yet) added the cilantro and lime. However, I plan to do so. Just excited to get my first post in—and it isn’t cool yet.
Also, I didn’t use any tomato paste because (a) I don’t care for the acidic flavor that tomato paste often imparts to a recipe, and (b) I didn’t have any! If had some on hand I probably would have used a tiny bit…
Lastly, I didn't have 4 oz. of shallots (that is a lot of shallots!). I had 3 decent sized shallots, and those were just under 1 oz. Oppps! I do think that additional shallots would have been nice. Note to self: 4 oz. of shallots is probably 13-14 averaged sized shallots.
I used crunchy organic PB—and I’m glad that I went with the crunchy version. The little bits of peanut are delightful additions in the bites that have them.
Also, I have a broth dilemma right now. Now, let’s get a few things straight. First, I have, in the past, made my own veggie broth by collecting scraps of my cooking veggies, storing them, then boiling them altogether with spices and straining. I have tried this a lot. I do not like it. I have read all about the different types of veggies that you should use, and which you should avoid, and I STILL don’t care for my homemade broth. So, a few years ago I sought out a good veggie tetra-pack broth. The Organic No Chicken broth from Pacific Foods was okay, but sometimes the flavor was a bit off in my soups. Then, on a whim I tried the Better Than Bullion organic vegetable base (add 1 tsp. base to 1 cup water), and I was happy. I even tried their ‘No Beef’ and ‘No Chicken’ varieties—but the basic vegetable base was a more versatile and overall better taste for me. So, for years I happily kept a jar of the base in my fridge, and had broth at the ready whenever a recipe called for veggie broth or stock (or, when a recipe called for chicken or beef stock and I was modifying). However, in recent months, both the ‘regular’ grocery store near me, and the veg*n friendly Sunflower Markets stopped carrying the veggie base! They continue to carry the meaty versions, but not the veggie. As such, my current broth is Not Chick’n Bullion Cube from Edward and Sons. It is more a bullion (cube form) than my regular paste, and well… Better than Bullion is indeed better! I think that the bullion cube is a bit too salty. I may need to order the Better Than online (after all, I’ll surely go through a case of the stuff this year in my soup adventures).
So, all that being said, my Spicy Peanut Eggplant Shallot Stew was a bit too salty—and I blame the bullion. However, that aside, this is an excellent recipe for 2 reasons:
1) It has eggplant and I really enjoyed it! Eggplant is a polarizing food for many vegetarians… love it or hate it. I used to love it, then I hated it, and now I’m actively trying to learn to appreciate it again. This soup definitely earns points for the eggplant.
2) Mike ate it—willingly—I mean, he went to the pot when it was on the stove and ladled himself a bowl!!!! This is significant because (a) he doesn’t tend to like soup, (b) he doesn’t tend to like things that don’t look particularly appetizing… and I’ll admit that this soup falls into that category. Now, I don’t know that he’d consider this a meal per se (I would), but he ate it without my prompting, and that makes me glad.
So, all in all, this is a winner. It wasn’t as spicy as I would have liked, so I’m going to add some of the optional cayenne powder tomorrow when I re-heat it for my birthday lunch. It also was pleasantly soupy; rather than a thick stew. I am sure that it will thicken up a bit when it sits in the fridge overnight, and the flavors may develop a bit more then too- but I’m definitely happy with the soup. I want to see how I can add a little star rating system for the blog—think that would be a nice visual to see that I rated a particular recipe a certain # of stars (or bowls/mugs perhaps…??).
I may try a different peanut soup once we get into 2012… but this one won’t be served again in my house until 2013, per my ‘rules’!
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