Slow-Cooker Indian Spiced Adzuki Soup

Day 2

I am going to admit up front that this recipe was made mostly for me.  I thought I could get Rowan to try it, but was highly doubtful about Max.  Moose will likely never take a bite.  I spent Thursday and Friday doing a Green Smoothie Fast, which is the kickstart to my 28 day elimination diet by The Whole Life Nutrition Kitchen, which is one of my new favorite food blogs, by the way.

By Saturday morning, I was starving and in need of something laden with protein.  I also wanted something hearty and reminiscent of fall, despite the fact that it's been in the 90's the last two days.  If I could get the boys to take more than one bite, I'd be happy.

This was also basically one of those:  I have tons of stuff in the fridge that I should be eating and which is going to go bad if I don't combine it all into one dish.

After a great deal of agonizing (read about 10 minutes), I decided to call it:

Slow-Cooker Indian Spiced Adzuki Soup

2 cups dried organic Adzuki beans, rinsed, soaked and cooked until tender
4 cups vegetable stock (I used homemade.  You could also use chicken)
1/2 very large walla walla sweet onion, chopped
5 cloves garlic, smashed and roughtly chopped
2 medium sized carrots, sliced in 1/2" diagonal rounds
2 celery stalks, chopped
1/2 head caulflower, roughly chopped
1 broccoli crown, roughly chopped
1 small tart apple, cored and chopped (no need to peel - I used granny smith)
1 1/2 tsp coriander
3/4 tsp turmeric
3/4 tsp cumin
2 tsp sea salt, or to taste (I used Salish Fine -which has a lovely, deep, smoky flavor and aroma)
3 large Kale leaves, rinsed and torn into small pieces (I used red kale)

Place everything except the sea salt and kale in a slow-cooker.  Add 1 tsp of sea salt and  mix everything together. Set the slow-cooker to low and let it cook until the vegetables are tender and the flavors have melded.  About 3 hours in, I would taste and decide if more salt is necessary.  20 minutes before you are ready to eat, add the kale.

Either enjoy as is, or puree lightly with an immersion blender.

My Notes

If I were to make this again, and I believe I will, I might add a teaspoon or two of ginger.  Initially, I hadn't planned on pureeing it.  I had intended it to be more like a stew.  But, as it cooked I realized there was no way the boys were going to try it the way it looked. So, out came the handy immersion blender.

Pureeing it gives it an unfortunate brown color reminiscent of something you would not want to think about whilst eating.  But, oh well. 

This cooked for a total of about 4.5 hours on low, but I think my slow-cooker runs higher than normal.

The Results:

I loved it.  But, I was also starved for something substantial, that didn't taste like fruit and greens.

I had to entice the boys by putting little bits of chicken-vegi meatballs around the outside, two Olive Oil Crackers, and two sticks of cheddar cheese sticking up out of it.

Max immediately took the cheese out of the soup and ate it, despite the fact that it had the soup on it.  He did the same with the crackers.  He then asked for more cheese and crackers and ignored the soup, except that I put every subsequent piece of cheese and cracker in the soup to begin with.  He at them.  I count this as a victory in the world of the Emperor.

Rowan actually took bites of it with the spoon off and on throughout the meal, but was also focused on the cheese and crackers more than anything else.  At least he continued to try it AND he was using his spoon quite well.  Go Rowan.

I asked Moose to try it.  His comment was, "It smells like weird diet food..."

I'll leave it at that.

Update:

This is even better the second day.  I will definitely do it again.  It would be absolutely amazing with this lovely whole grain flat bread from Whole Life Nutrition Kitchen, which is yeast free, gluten-free and vegan!

Comments

[Amy]

"It smells like weird diet food..", I have so heard that one before. How do you get them to open up to the possibilities? Is is a lost cause?

[Jennifer]

Well, I had asked him to just take a bite. I didn't serve it as dinner for him. I didn't find out until this morning that he actually did take a taste of it before I packed the leftovers away. This morning he first made a comment akin to, "I tasted it.. I wasn't that taken with it. I don't really like beans." When I responded that he sometimes will like beans if they are pureed, he added "Yeah... that's true. Well, it might be ok in the fall with a chunk of good bread..." And I said... "yes.. and a good salad.." and he agreed. So, I think the key might be to not force them to eat it as a meal the first time, ask them to just taste it..??

[Jennifer]

Oh and... adding meat is always a winner. I might try that later in the fall.