An Exaltation of Soups (63 page)
Read An Exaltation of Soups Online
Authors: Patricia Solley
4 tablespoons vegetable oil (palm oil, if you can get it)
2 medium onions, minced
1 to 2 hot chile peppers, seeded and minced
2 cups ripe or canned peeled and chopped tomatoes, reserving the juice
3 pounds fresh greens (any combination of kale, collards, spinach, mustard, and beet greens), washed, tough stems removed, then stacked, thinly sliced, and finely minced
8 cups (2 quarts) Chicken Stock
¼ cup raw white rice
Salt and black pepper to taste
Finely crushed roasted peanuts, for garnish
O
P
REPARE
Prep the ingredients as directed in the recipe list, including the garnish.
O
C
OOK
1. Heat the oil in a large soup pot over medium-low heat, add the onions, and cook, stirring, until the onions are transparent, about 5 minutes. Add the chiles and tomatoes, and continue cooking for 5 to 10 minutes, until the tomatoes are thick and concentrated. Stir in the greens, turn the heat to medium-high, then cover and cook until the greens are limp, about 5 minutes.
2. Pour in the stock and any reserved tomato juice, bring to a boil over medium-high heat, and add the rice. Reduce the heat to low, cover, and simmer until the rice is very tender, about 45 minutes. Season with salt and pepper.
O
S
ERVE
Ladle the soup into festive bowls and sprinkle with roasted peanuts.
“S
ELF
-R
ELIANCE
”
I love the man whose lofty mind
On God and its own strength relies;
Who seeks the welfare of his kind,
And dare be honest though he dies;
Who cares not for the world’s applause,
But, to his own fixed purpose true,
The path which God and nature’s laws
Point out, doth earnestly pursue….
—J
AMES
M. W
HITFIELD
,
African-American poet, 1853
HANA
PEANUT SOUP
NKATE NKWAN
G
HANA
P
ROVERBS
“A good soup attracts chairs.”
“Plenty fish or meat does not spoil the soup.”
Serves 6 to 8
T
HIS IS REALLY
a pretty first-course soup—juicy and intense, earthy and piquant. It’s based on a traditional soup from Ghana but Americanized by adding so many New World ingredients. Also, crushed peanuts are far more traditional than processed peanut butter, but it’s precisely the peanut butter that gives the sensationally rich texture, which, after all, speaks on a culinary level to the principles of Kwanzaa.
2 tablespoons oil
2 medium onions, chopped into big pieces
1 large green bell pepper, seeded and chopped into big pieces
1 large red bell pepper, seeded and chopped into big pieces
4 garlic cloves, minced
2 pounds ripe or canned tomatoes, cut into quarters, juice reserved
10 cups (2½ quarts) Chicken Stock
½ teaspoon coarsely ground black pepper
½ teaspoon red pepper flakes
½ cup raw brown rice
⅔ cup creamy peanut butter
Crushed peanuts, for garnish
O
P
REPARE
Prep the ingredients as directed in the recipe list.
O
C
OOK
1. In a large soup pot, heat the oil over medium-high heat, then sauté the onions, peppers, and garlic until they begin to brown. Reduce the heat to medium, add the tomatoes, and cook for 5 to 10
minutes, stirring from time to time, until they cook down.
2. Pour in the reserved tomato juice, the stock, black pepper, and red pepper flakes. Bring to a boil over medium-high heat, add the rice, then reduce the heat to low. Simmer, partially covered, for 45 minutes.
O
S
ERVE
Stir in the peanut butter until it melts and the broth is smooth. Reheat to a simmer, then ladle into festive bowls and sprinkle with crushed peanuts.
“S
ONGS FOR THE
P
EOPLE
”
Let me make the songs for the people,
Songs for the old and young;
Songs to stir like a battle-cry
Wherever they are sung.
Not for the clashing of sabers,
For carnage nor for strife;
But songs to thrill the hearts of men
With more abundant life.
Let me make the songs for the weary,
Aid life’s fever and fret,
Till hearts shall relax their tension,
And careworn brows forget.
Let me sing for little children,
Before their footsteps stray,
Sweet anthems of love and duty,
To float o’er life’s highway.
I would sing for the poor and aged,
When shadows dim their sight;
Of the bright and restful mansions,
Where there shall be no night.
Our world, so worn and weary,
Needs music, pure and strong,
To hush the jangle and discords
Of sorrow, pain, and wrong.
Music to soothe all its sorrow,
Till war and crime shall cease;
And the hearts of men grown tender
Girdle the world with peace.
—F
RANCES
E. W. H
ARPER
,
African-American poet
, 1895
IGERIA
OKRA SOUP
OBE ILE
Serves 6 to 8
T
HIS BEAUTIFUL, SPICY
soup features big chunks of red, white, and green in a rich, piquant broth. It is lighter than the traditional thick Nigerian soup, and the earthiness of its okra and the fire of its hot peppers stimulate the appetite—and the discussion—for the rest of the Kwanzaa feast to come.
4 tablespoons vegetable oil, ideally palm oil
3 medium onions, chopped
4 small hot green chile peppers, seeded and chopped, or 1 habanero, or ½ teaspoon dried hot red pepper
4 cups fresh or canned tomatoes, peeled and chopped, juice reserved
10 cups (2½ quarts) Vegetable or Chicken Stock
¼ cup raw white rice
5 to 6 cups okra fingers, cut into bite-size triangles, or 1 pound frozen okra
Salt and pepper to taste
O
P
REPARE
Prep the ingredients as directed in the recipe list.
O
C
OOK
1. Heat the oil over medium heat in a large soup pot, then toss in the onion chunks and sauté until yellow. Add the chile peppers and stir for a minute. Then add the tomatoes and cook them down over medium heat for 5 to 10 minutes.
2. Pour in the stock and any reserved tomato juice, bring to a boil over high heat, sprinkle in the rice, then reduce the heat to low, cover, and cook for 15 minutes.
3. Raise the heat to medium-low, add the okra, and cook for another 15 minutes or so, until the okra is done. Season with salt and pepper.
O
S
ERVE
Ladle the soup into pretty bowls, and let the feast begin.
I
GBO
P
ROVERBS
“The chicken always blames the soup pot for its tragic end instead of the person who wrings its neck.”
“Until lions have their own historians tales of the hunt will always glorify the hunter.”
Y
ORUBA
P
ROVERB
“Soup is not measured by its quantity.”
ANZANIA
CREAMY COCONUT-BANANA SOUP
M’TORI SUPU
B
UILSA
P
ROVERB
“Sharing is wealth.”
Serves 6 to 8
T
HIS EAST AFRICAN
soup is a rich and filling meal, traditionally made from scratch with stewing beef for the broth, then removing the meat, pureeing the thick soup, and serving the beef on the side. For the purposes of Kwanzaa, though, the soup is more easily made and more attractively served as a first course by forgoing the stock-making steps and serving the soup as a mélange of fruit and vegetable chunks in an earthy, coconutty, and piquant broth, festively topped with crisp plantain chips. It’s really scrumptious—such an interesting combination of flavors and textures, sweetness and starch.