Vegan Lemon Chickpea Orzo Soup or Vegan Avgolemono - cooked in an Instapot

This soup is one of my Daughter's favorites and it just made a nice offering at a pot luck. There's no dairy, no meat, and can even be made gluten free if you are careful with your ingredients. What is this magical mystical wonder food? I'm talking about Vegan Lemon Orzo Soup or as the Greek say, Avgolemono. You can make this in a regular stock pot, but I like to cook it in the Instant Pot because I can keep it warm for a long time as if it were in a slow cooker. There is no pressure used on the Instapot, but I use the saute and warm settings. Your slow cooker might have these settings, too. Otherwise, just make this in a pot on the stove, it will cook beautifully either way. 

I originally found this recipe on simple-veganista.com. Of course I have a couple of tweaks, but it's pretty much theirs - credit where credit is due. This is a perfect recipe if you have a lot of lemons.

Here is the Recipe for Lemon Orzo Soup

Ingredients

1 TBSP Olive Oil

1/2 a Large Onion or 1 Small Onion, Diced

3 Carrots, peeled and diced

3-4 Cloves of Garlic, minced

8 Cups of Vegetable Broth

1 Cup of Orzo (or Gluten Free Orzo or Rice)

2 Cans of Chickpeas, drained and rinced

1/3 Cup of Tahini

The Juice of 3-4 Fresh Lemons (about 1/2 cup or more)

A Large Handful of Baby Spinach or Kale

1-2 TBSP of Fresh Chopped Dill

1-2 tsp of Large Crystal Salt 

About 1 tsp Fresh Ground Pepper

Preparation

Heat oil over medium heat on the saute setting in the Instapot. 

While the Instapot is heating, prepare the broth if needed. I use the Knorr Vegetarian bullion, so I always mix it up first. I don't worry if the broth is not perfectly mixed or heated, I just want it to have some pre-mixing. 

Once it the Instapot is hot, add the onion and carrots. Saute for about 5 minutes, add the garlic and saute for another minute or so.

Add the broth to the pot and bring to a boil.

Add the orzo and chickpeas, reduce heat to low and cook at a gentle boil for 7-9 minutes or when the orzo is tender. (If you are using rice, add about 10 minutes to let the rice soften.)

Turn off heat, add tahini and fresh squeezed lemon juice, stir well. 

Add the baby spinach or kale and stir in.

Stir in the dill.

Season with salt and pepper.

Taking Stock

In our modern world of convenience, certain culinary standbys have gone by the wayside. One such staple often found in yesterday's kitchens is Chicken Stock or Broth. With the ease of bullion cubes, boxed stock, and canned soup, one might never even think to make homemade stock. With the economy the way it is, more and more people are realizing that there might be more to that chicken long after the breast or the drumsticks are gone. "Waste not, want not" is a popular notion these days. My Brother wrote a terrific post about some more advanced things to do with stock called "Too Good to Throw Away," but how does one get the stock in the first place?

When I make my broth, I like to start with two things, the recipe laid down in Chef Paul Prudhomme's Louisiana Kitchen and the leftover carcass of a chicken from the grocery store.

I will paraphrase my own version of this recipe to follow along with my pictures, but I highly recommend you get your own copy of this brilliant book. The country biscuit recipe alone is worth the cost, plus I just noticed that on Amazon, there are used copies for under a dollar.

Put these next items into a large pot.

An onion into quarters,

A clove or two of garlic, cut into a few pieces

A rib of celery sliced up

A carrot or any leftover veggies to add flavor

Add the Chicken to the pot and cover with cold water.

Bring pot to a boil.

Then cover the pot with a lid and simmer for 4 - 8 hours adding a little water every so often if the soup gets too low. You are going for a quart of stock at the end.

After the soup has cooked, strain it to get just the broth. The way I do this is to put a large bowl under a colander and spill the soup into that. If I am making soup, I reserve the matter in the colander so I can add some meat and veggies back into the soup. If I am storing the stock for later use, I put the broth into freezable containers and toss the rest.

This latest batch of stock I turned into Matzo Ball Soup and to celebrate the Jewish new year, I will share that preparation with you.

After the good pieces of meat were added back into the stock, I seasoned the soup with salt and fresh ground pepper.

Then I followed the recipe for Matzo Balls found on the can of Matzo Meal. Manischewitz won't mind, if I share it with you, right? After all it sells more matzo meal....

2 Tbsp Vegetable Oil

2 Large Eggs, slightly beaten

1/2 Cup Matzo Meal

1 tsp Salt (if desired)

2 Tbsp Soup Stock or Water

Blend vegetable oil, eggs, matzo meal, and salt together.

Add soup stock or water and mix until uniform (delete this step if you prefer harder matzo balls.)

Cover and place in refrigerator for 15 minutes.

Bring soup to a brisk boil. (The original recipe says to boil in water, but the stock makes the balls better)

Reduce flame and drop balls approximately 1 inch in diameter formed from refrigerated mixture.

Cover pot and cook 30-40 minutes.

Enjoy a lovely bowl of homemade matzo ball soup!