Lonnie’s Nourishing, Digestible and Delicious Moroccan Soup

Originally posted

Spring can be a good time for making fresh starts. Recently I came upon a recipe for a Moroccan soup in Wild Rose’s Detox Cookbook that I modified for my own gluten-free, dairy free, all-kinds-of-restrictions diet.

The result was yummy. I’ve included the resulting recipe below.

Millet keeps the recipe definitely gluten free, plus shortens the prep time significantly.  I didn’t have any so I used my Power Grains, which tasted fantastic in this recipe.If using the power grains, plan to soak in advance. They contain oats so celiacs must exercise caution.

•  2 Tbsp (30 ml) olive oil

• 1/2 medium onion, diced
• 1 clove garlic, minced
• 1 cup (250 ml) celery, diced
• 1 cup (250 ml) yam, peeled and diced
• 1 cup (250 ml) cooked or canned adzuki beans (you could use any type of bean; these are simply highly digestible)
• 1/2 cup (125 ml) Highwood Crossing Organic Power Grains (which have been soaked in water 4 cups of water for at least four hours, or use millet that doesn’t need to soak for guaranteed gluten-free)
• 3 whole cloves
• 1 1/2 tsp (7 ml) ground cumin
• 1/4 tsp (1 ml) tumeric
• 1/4 tsp (1 ml) nutmeg
• 3 lemon slices (preferably organic)
• 1 tsp (5 ml) sea salt (did you know that table salt contains a great deal of sugar to keep it free flowing?)
• pinch ground black pepper
• 2 Tbsp (30 ml) cilantro, chopped

Saute’ onion, garlic, and celery in olive oil over medium heat or 5 minutes  or until onion is soft.

Add yams, adzuki beans, Power Grains and their soaking liquid, cloves, cumin, tumeric, nutmeg, lemon slices, water, salt and pepper.

Bring to a boil, reduce heat and simmer for 25 minutes or until yams and grains are cooked.

Feel free to add more water if a thinner soup is desired.

Add cilantro and serve.

Interesting “flat tummy” tidbits from Flat Tummy Club:  Adzuki ‘weight loss’ beans are high in fibre, protein and good carbohydrates. They are thought to draw ‘damp’ out of the body in Chinese medicine. Celery is also excellent for getting rid of any excess water in the body. So many of these spices are good for the digestion. You could also use Ras el Hanout which is a Morrocan mix you can find in supermarkets and handily contains a few flat tummy spices, including turmeric, ginger, cardamom and cayenne.

Enjoy!

~Lonnie