Moroccan Chicken & Vegetable Soup

For Christmas my co-worker Linda gave me a "Clean Eating For Every Season" cook book. It is super awesome! This is my favourite recipe from there so far. SUPER flavourful and easy to make. Just takes a little bit of time (1 hour, 40 minutes). I made it for dinner for the first time about a month or two ago and my Mom was in town. While she may have had a few glasses of wine, she did say this was the most delicious soup she's ever had... and not because I made it! 

It could very easily be turned into a delicious vegetarian soup if you omit the chicken and use vegetable broth instead. 

Serves 4-6 people

Ingredients

Chickpea Croutons

1 can of chickpeas, drained and rinsed

1 1/2 tbs 1 oil

pinch of salt

1/4 tsp ground cumin

1/8 tsp ground cinnamon

pinch of ground ginger

Chicken

2 chicken breast

1/4 tsp ground cumin

1/8 tsp garlic power

1/8 tsp ground ginger

1/8 tsp cinnamon

1/2 tbs olive oil 

Soup

2 tbs coconut oil 

2 celery stalks, diced

1 medium carrot, diced (half moons or quarters depending on size)

1 medium yellow onion, diced

1 1/4 tsp ground turmeric

3/4 tsp ground ginger

3/4 tsp cinnamon

1/2 tsp cumin 

pinch of black pepper

1 18 oz can of diced tomatoes (with juices)

1 tsp salt

2 sweet potatoes, peeled an diced

6 cups low sodium chicken broth 

1/4 cup chopped cilantro

1/4 cup chopped flat leaf parsley 

3 cups lightly packed baby spinach 

1 lemon, cut into wedges for garnish

Directions

Preheat the oven to 400 degrees Fahrenheit. Place chickpeas on a parchment lined baking sheet; remove any loose skins. In a bowl, mix chicken with the olive oil and spices until they are well coated. On a separate baking sheet, place the two chicken breasts. Add both to the oven and roast for 20 minutes. Remove chickpeas and add 1 1/2 tbs of coconut oil & pinch of salt.   SIDE BAR: the first time I made this I melted the coconut oil in a microwave safe bowl and drizzled it over top. Last night, I simply dropped it on top and mixed it around allowing the heat of the baking sheet and chickpeas to melt it - either works!   Return to oven and roast for another 15 minutes. When you put the chickpeas back in, remove the chicken breasts and set aside to cool. When the additional 15 minutes is done on the chickpeas, remove from the oven and turn the oven off. Sprinkle 1/4 tsp cumin, 1/8 tsp cinnamon and a pinch of ginger. Mix around. Put the chickpeas back in the oven with closed door and heat off for 50 minutes to one hour. 

Time to prepare the soup! Dice up the celery, carrot and onion. In a medium stockpot on medium heat, heat 2 tbs of coconut oil. Add diced celery, carrot and onion. Cook until tender, about 6 minutes.  While they cook, prepare the potatoes. Add turmeric, 3/4 tsp ginger, 3/4 tsp cinnamon, 1/2 tsp cumin and black pepper and cook for 1 minute stirring occasionally. Add tomatoes and 1 tsp salt. Cook for 3 minutes. 

Add potatoes and broth to the pot. Turn up heat to bring to a boil. Once boiling, reduce the heat to low and cover to simmer for 20-25 minutes, until potatoes are tender. 

While the soup is simmering, either dice the chicken to bite site pieces or shred with two forks. Add chicken, cilantro and parsley and heat through, approximately 2 minutes. Taste and add additional salt if needed! Stir in spinach and allow to wilt. 

The soup is ready! If the chickpeas are ready (aka the hour is up) then serve up the soup and top with the chickpeas and a squeeze of lemon. If the chickpeas aren't ready (aka crispy) then just keep the soup on low or cover and turn off heat, it will stay warm!

Enjoy! 

Pork Dumplings

My brother and I lived together for a few years and I would always do the cooking. "You're better at it..." is something he used to say (not a direct quote ;) ). But turns out when he moved out on his own and started cooking for himself, he's a pretty great cook. And very adventurous! He makes all sorts of things I've never tried and uses exciting spices I don't even have (and I've got a pretty good spice collection!). Recently at a party, I tried his pork dumplings which were delicious. He was in town this past weekend so I asked him to teach me how to make them.

Yields about 30 dumplings

Ingredients
1lb ground pork
1 tbs light soya sauce
1 tbs dark soya sauce
1 tbs Chinese black vinegar
1/2 tbs seasme oil
1 tbs dried Sichuan pepper, crush (optional to roast them prior)
1 1/2 tbs finely chopped green onion (green parts)
1/2 tbs grated fresh ginger
Optional: ~ 1 tsp tapioca starch
Dumpling wrappers
Bowl of Water

In a large bowl, combine ingredients from the ground pork to ginger. Mix by hand. If it seems a little "wet" you can add some tapioca starch - no more than a tsp. You don't want the meat to soak the dumpling wrappers. Prepare are large plate or baking sheet with parchment paper. You will put the dumplings on here prior to cooking.

Take a dumpling wrapper and put 1 tbs of filling directly in the middle. Dip a finger in the water and go along the edge of one half of the wrapper. Fold over and pinch the edges closed. My brother was closing the dumplings with a fancy "coin purse" method, but I was struggling with that. A simple "messy" pinch gets the job done.

Once you've used all the filling or dumpling wrappers, heat a medium sized non-stick pan over medium-high heat with 2-3 tbs of vegetable oil. Make sure you have a lid that will properly fit this pan. Once hot, add some dumplings. You want all of them to touch the bottom of the pan, so don't over crowd. Pour in 1/2 cup of water and cover with the lid. Cook undisturbed for 6 minutes and then remove the lid. Remove the lid and flip the dumplings and continue cooking for 1-2 minutes or until desired crispiness or the water has evaporated (I still had a little water left). Repeat the same process over - no need to discard any remaining water/oil that may still be left. Add just a splash more of oil, the dumplings, more water and cover the pan and repeat.

My "messy" pinch closure

Post 6 minutes with lid cover with a flip

They're ready!