Ingredients

  • 1 1/3 cups dried chickpeas
  • 8 cups water (or vegetable broth or stock)
  • 2 inch strip kombu
  • 1 Bay Leaf
  • 2-3 tablespoons olive oil
  • 2 cups diced onions
  • 1 1/2 cups diced carrots (or 1 large carrot & 1 large parsnip, diced)
  • 5-6 cloves minced garlic
  • 1/8 teaspoon unrefined sea salt
  • dash of black pepper
  • 3 TB chickpea miso (or any light miso) ** see notes below
  • 2 tsp. Rosemary powder
  • 2 tsp. Dried oregano
  • 1 1/2 cups diced sweet potatoes
  • 1 1/2 cups winter squash (butternut, acorn, etc.) cubed
  • 3 cups chopped fresh kale (or other greens–bok choy, spinach, Chinese cabbage, etc.)

 

Directions

  1. Cover the chickpeas with water and soak overnight. 
  2. Discard the water and pressure cook in about 4 cups of fresh water, kombu, and bay leaf for 50 minutes or boil for 60-90 minutes. OR use canned, precooked beans.
  3. Heat the oil in a large soup pot.  Add the onions, garlic, salt, pepper and herbs, and sauté for a few minutes. Add carrots and parsnips.
  4. When the onions become translucent, add the sweet potatoes and squash. 
  5. Next add the greens, and continue to cook for 3 to 5 minutes. 
  6. Add the water or vegetable broth and bring to a boil.    
  7. Next add the cooked chickpeas or canned. 
  8. Simmer together 20-25 minutes. You may need to add more liquid if you like more broth in the stew.
  9. Stir the miso in a small amount of the hot soup stock to thin it, and stir into the pot.  (You can eliminate the miso if using vegetable stock)  Gently simmer for 5 minutes more. 
  10. Turn off heat and add chopped parsley or thinly sliced scallions.
  11. Serve with brown rice, millet, or any whole grain of choice.

 

Notes

If using canned beans, I recommend Eden brand. They are cooked with kombu, are rinsed after cooked, and are in BPA-free cans

**If using vegetable broth or stock, reduce miso to 1 TB or eliminate.  You can also substitute good quality soy sauce, tamari (it is GF), or Braggs Amino Acids for the miso.

Best brands of miso: South River–their chickpea miso or sweet-tasting brown rice miso go well in this recipe; Miso Master–their chickpea miso, mellow white miso, or sweet white miso go well in this recipe; or Westbrae miso. All of these brands are organic high quality miso made the traditional way.

Kombu is a tasteless dried seaweed that greatly increases the nutritional value of anything you cook it with. It is considered the most completely mineralized food. Kombu is an excellent addition to beans since the minerals in it help to balance the protein and oils of beans increasing their digestibility. Kombu softens and breaks down tough fibers in beans and other foods cooked with them. I add it to all beans, soups, and stews that I cook. Mitoku and Eden are very good brands of kombu. Avoid seaweed from China and Hong Kong

You might also like Chickpeas, Potatoes and Cauliflower     Minestrone Soup

Learn more about miso here