Dinner? Dinner? Dinner? What to cook for dinner that is nourishing and
delicious. Some left over
pumpkin soup and an eggplant – great!
Not enough to serve as soup but an excellent flavour for a vegetable dinner. That bit of pumpkin soup becomes the base of this colourful,
veggie-packed bowl of hearty goodness. Omit the bacon and this is a satisfying vegetarian dish. And – great as left
overs the next day.
Might not look pretty ... but .... Mmmmmm
Preparation and
cooking : about 20 -30 minutes in total
Serves 3- 4 depending on the volume of veggies added.
This is just a rough guide
Ingredients
This is a bit of “toss together” style so just add or vary as
you like
1 - 1 1/2 cups left over pumpkin soup (mine was very thick and
flavoured with cumin and lemon)
1 cup cooked rice (I keep some in the freezer for a quick
defrost)
1 large eggplant – diced
2 onions – diced
1 clove garlic – crushed
A splash of Australian Extra Virgin Olive Oil
1 -2 slices bacon, rind removed - diced. Or pancetta
(optional – leave out if preferred)
½ teaspoon ground cumin
½ teaspoon ground coriander
1 teaspoon ground turmeric
½ teaspoon celery seeds
1 red chilli – finely shredded (leave out or add more to your taste)
Handful baby green beans – chopped to bite size
1 tin chickpeas – rinsed and drained
Some sliced red capsicum
Some cauliflower – chopped into very small florets
Cabbage – finely shredded – about 1/8 of a regular cabbage
Few baby spinach leaves
Salt and Pepper to taste
Splash of lemon juice
few roasted pumpkin seed to scatter on top (optional)
Method
Heat the olive oil in the pan and fry off the onions and
bacon.
Add the garlic and diced eggplant.
Stir through the cumin, coriander, turmeric, celery seeds
and chilli.
Add the capsicum and cauliflower and stir until soft but
still a little crisp.
Add beans and cabbage
Pour over the pumpkin soup and add the chickpeas and rice.
Stir together until warmed through.
Toss through the spinach leaves
Taste and add salt and pepper if needed.
Squeeze the juice of about ¼ of a lemon over just before
serving.
TIPS AND HINTS This is an easy way to use soup when there's not enough left for a full serving.
Also keeping some cooked rice in the freezer provides a quick way of adding rice to a meal without needed to cook from scratch.
Enjoy! Colleen