This week’s Ham-less vegan Super Green Split Pea soup nevertheless has a nice “meaty” flavor, due to my favorite smoked paprika and also to shredded nori (dried seaweed). Nori is packed w/ Vitamins C & A, potassium and fiber, while boasting no fat, carbs or calories. Plenty of chopped super-food collards makes it Super Green.
In the West, we say there are only 4 basic flavors: sweet, sour, bitter, salty. The Japanese claim there are 5. Their word umami describes this 5th savory, earthy taste, such as that of miso and mushrooms. Umami also means “delicious”! All these ingredients add a wonderful depth of flavor to vegetarian dishes.
You have undoubtedly noticed that I put vegetables in everything. EVERYTHING. That’s the key to eating more of them, instead of serving only typical vegetable ‘side dishes’ that can be ignored. Orphaned on the plate, a ward of the state. Perhaps these come to be appreciated by your dogs. Dogs need greens too but, frankly, their kibble comes all pumped up with inextricable nutritious ingredients — while our go-to cheesy burrito dinner does not.
Yes, I realize some children & adults will protest by not eating a dish that has green things in it — horrors — but, a) they should try it first, thank you; b) they can pick out the offending pieces; c) they can go get themselves a cup of cottage cheese.
The Super Green Split Pea Soup this week cannot be deconstructed that way but, the greens aren’t perhaps so flagrant and hopefully these veg-aphobes will not realize or not mind. If you have serious veg-aphobes in your home (my sympathies) and want to trick them, puree the soup. A nice touch is to add a dollop of Greek yogurt or sour cream and squeeze of lemon juice. This tastes good, and it might just distract them!
The recipe for this soup is on my Recipe page. Nori is a new addition and isn’t reflected in that, yet. As for Green Eggs, see the previous post & photo.
One Dish At A Time 