Vegan Quinoa - Spinach - Chickpea Avgolemono
A LITTLE HISTORY: Avgolemono is a Greek sauce made from eggs, lemon, and warm broth. Commonly added to soups for thickening, the sauce is used to dress up everything from roasted vegetables to fish dishes. “Vegan avgolemono” sounds like an oxymoron but it really is something that can be found in Greek cuisine, especially on the island of Crete. It’s called derbye, delbye, or alevrolemono and it’s prepared by initially mixing lemon juice and flour. When the mix is ready, slowly ladle warm broth in the mix. It’s used as a thickener to soups and stews during Lent.
PREP TIME 15 minutes
COOK TIME 25 minutes
SERVES 4
Ingredients
- 2 leeks trimmed and chopped
- 1 onion chopped
- 3 garlic cloves minced
- 1 cup cooked chickpeas
- 6 cups trimmed baby spinach or Swiss chard seskoulo, washed and coarsely chopped
- 6 to 8 cups vegetable stock
- 1 cup white wine
- ½ cup quinoa preferably unhulled (the dark one, for better color)
- Strained fresh juice of 2 lemons
- 2 Tbsp tahini
- 1/3 cup extra virgin Greek olive oil
- Salt and pepper to taste
- Pink peppercorns for garnish
Instructions
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Heat 3 tablespoons of the olive oil in a large pot over medium heat and sweat the leeks and onion for about 10 minutes, until very soft. Stir in the garlic. Add the chickpeas, and stir to coat in the oil.
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Add the greens to the pot, close the lid and cook the greens for a few minutes until they lose their volume.
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Add the wine and when it steams off add the vegetable broth. Bring to a boil and add the quinoa. Cook for a few minutes, until the quinoa is tender.
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To make the vegan avgolemono: In a separate bowl, whisk together the tahini, lemon juice and olive oil until smooth. Take a ladleful or two of the hot soup liquid and drizzle this into the tahini mixture, whisking all the while until smooth. Pour the tahini mixture back into the soup pot and stir. Season to taste with salt and pepper and serve, drizzled with a little more olive oil and garnished with a sprinkling of pink peppercorns.