Monday, March 05, 2007

Good soup, but needs a little something extra...

We're a little behind on recipes and will probably take a bit to get caught up - we had a busy weekend in the kitchen and I have quite the list to make this week too! We will start with what we ended up having for dinner last night - Mexican Tomato-Bean Soup with Corn Dumplings.

While we thought this soup had a good base flavor, it is probably not one I would jump to make again as I think there are better recipes out there. Onions, garlic and a combination of regular and hot chili powder are brought together in olive oil to begin this soup. Vegetable broth, water, oregano, salt and pepper are added in with the addition of garbanzo beans and chunky fire-roasted diced tomatoes to bulk up the mixture. As this combination simmers, tiny dumplings are made from masa harina, salt, water and oil. The recipe has you divide this mixture into 24 pieces - they should be about the size of a garbanzo bean. This part is a little tedious as they are really quite small, but you can make them bigger if you like. The little dumplings are added into the simmering soup and left to cook until they begin to float. Right before serving, cilantro and lime juice are stirred in to freshen the flavors with a scattering of salty feta cheese to finish out each serving. The dumplings are fairly light and tender - but you really don't notice them much as they kind of disappear into the dish.


4 comments:

  1. Did you have any leftovers and how did the little dumplings fare sitting overnight?

    I was contemplating making this but not so sure now. Would the addition of some chipolte help boost the flavor?

    Thanks for the reviews!

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  2. Kristin - I had the leftovers for lunch today - the dumplings actually faired much better than I thought! I'm not sure what could be added to help this soup, but a chipotle or two would pep up the flavor!

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  3. I made this soup tonight and realized after starting to make it, had no chili powder. However, I had just bought a packet of taco seasoning and used a tablespoon of that instead of the chili powder. It added a lot of flavor and it was delicous. I made my dumplings using a teaspoon measuring spoon, not 24 of them though, that seemed impossible. Enjoy.

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  4. Lindsey - Great idea to spice it up with taco seasoning! Yeah, dividing them into 24 was tedious.

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