Turkish Barley and Sour Cashew Crème Soup

The original version of this soup is Turkish made with chicken stock, shredded chicken, oil and dairy yogurt. I have not made this in years but decided in the spirit of Ramadan this would be a good soup to try to make vegan. I substituted veg stock for the chicken stock, eliminated the chicken and oil and made a cashew crème for the dairy yogurt.

The flavor of this soup is very dependent on the broth. Make sure you are using a veggie stock with good flavor. Be careful of boxed stocks as they can be very high in sodium. Here is what I made tonight:

Turkish Barley and Sour Cashew Crème Soup
Serves 6 servings

Ingredients:

1 large yellow onion, peeled and finely diced (allow to sit 10 minutes before heating)
10 cups of vegetable stock and/or water (it is important that you like the broth since it will give the soup most of its flavor)
½ teaspoon saffron threads (crush in between your fingers before adding to the pot to get more flavor)
2 tablespoons nutritional yeast (to mimic a buttery background but not so much to make it cheesy)
1 cup hulled barley
1 tablespoon fresh mint finely diced, or to taste
¼ cup fresh parsley, finely diced or to taste
1 cup raw cashews soaked and drained
2 tablespoons raw sesame seeds
½ cup water
1 tablespoon wine vinegar or lemon juice
2 cloves raw garlic, peeled

Garnish ingredients:

zest of 1 lemon
freshly ground allspice

Directions:

Combine the onions, stock, saffron, nutritional yeast, and barley and simmer on low stirring occasionally. When the barley is soft add the mint and parsley and turn the heat to low.

In your blender combine the cashews, sesame seeds, water, acid (vinegar or lemon juice) and garlic. Process until the mixture is completely smooth.

When you are ready to serve the soup add the cashew crème and stir to thoroughly combine and heat the soup through.

To serve, top the soup with fresh lemon zest and a sprinkle of ground allspice.

Nutritional Information:

Amount Per Serving
Calories - 257.04
Calories From Fat (33%) - 85.8

Total Fat - 9.79g
Saturated Fat - 1.67g
Cholesterol - 0mg
Sodium - 23.91mg
Potassium - 276.01mg
Total Carbohydrates - 34.67g
Fiber - 6.78g
Sugar - 2.14g
Protein - 7.48g

Comments:

I couldn’t imagine how I was going to make this vegan since it relied so heavily on chicken flavor and fat. But I also thought I had nothing to lose to lose to try it.

Shockingly the vegan version is just as good and maybe better than the original. However there are things that can wrong when you are making this soup which I want to point out so you don’t make the same mistakes I have made in the past. You can easily use too much mint. The original recipe called for more and that did not work for us. A little mint is good but too much is just too much. ;-) The overall flavor is subtle so you don’t want any individual flavor to stand out. Use the allspice and lemon zest sparingly so they enhance rather than dominate. When you are using dairy if you heat the soup on high it will curdle. I don’t think that will happen with the nut crème but wanted to mention it for those that want to use yogurt instead.

The soup has a richness from the cashew crème that is offset with the hint of mint and lemon. We both really enjoyed it. However this is not your traditional soup.

While barley is a grain it is one that I really enjoy. Barley is reported to do a better job of lowering cholesterol than oats if you have that problem. We both really like the texture of barley with its soft but chewy character.

Food since the last post:

To go with the soup for dinner we had a salad. I know this really surprises you, LOL. This one was shredded romaine that I topped with a cold quinoa salad with dried fruit, mint, parsley, almonds, sumac and red wine vinegar. It was a good clean dish to go with the heavier soup.

It is getting late now so it is time for me to log out. I hope everyone had a good day.  Mine was busy but not too bad.

This recipe soup is going out to the SOS challenge for August.