Enchanted Circle Soup
A soup dreamed up and brewed over fire in northern New Mexico. Handwritten in my grimoire by candlelight. A deeply warming, brothy, creamy, soup made with native foods: wild rice, white beans, chimayo + hatch pepper, wild porcini, juniper, and pinyon. Enjoyed with locally made tortillas and compounded herb butter. May this soup bring warm, nourishment, groundedness, and connection. Ase.
Recipe
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-1 cup WILD rice
-1 cup dried*** native white bean (navy bean is a great, easy option)
-1 piece kombu or epazote
-2 bay leaves
-1 leek, sliced
-6 cloves garlic, minced
-1/4 yellow onion, chopped
-1 bunch of carrots, cut in semi circles
-5 stalks celery, chopped
-Herbs to taste: sage, rosemary, thyme, parsley
-Spices to taste: salt, pepper, smoked paprika, coriander, allspice, chili powder (I used chimayo and hatch powder), a few juniper berries or juniper berry powder
-1/2 cup Chimayo, hatch, or other hot red pepper purée
-Pumpkin seeds + pinyon pine nuts
-At least 8 cups of Mushroom or veggie broth + additional water
-3/4 cup coconut yogurt
-2 tsp apple cider vinegar
-1 tbsp mushroom powder (try Porcini powder if you can find it but Shiitake works well)
Topping Options:
-Smoked salt
-Fresh herbs like parsley or cilantro
-Additional Coconut Yogurt
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1. If you’re using dried beans that have been soaked for 6-8 hours, welcome, let’s go. Place the soaked beans into a pot with the kombu or epazote and bay and add at least six cups of broth/water, we will be adding a lot of liquid to this pot over the course of this recipe. Turn the stove to medium heat and bring to a boil. Turn heat to the lowest heat, cover, and cook until softened, prob 1.5 to 2 hours but taste along the way- they should be softened but still have structure and bite. If the liquid gets low, add more.
2. About halfway through the 1.5-2 hours, sauté the leeks, onion, and garlic in oil until softened, just a few minutes over medium heat. Place half of that mixture into the pot of beans along with rosemary, thyme, and sage.
3. Start seasoning with this list of spices provided, I leave it up to every being to decide how much to put but please season generously. We want the soup to have depth. Keep tasting and adjust as necessary.
4. Rinse the wild rice and add it to the pot of beans with at least 3 additional cups of liquid, the hot pepper purée, the other half of the leek/onion/garlic trio, splash of apple cider vinegar, you probably need to add more salt because people rarely properly salt their food. Cook for 30 minutes and then add in the carrots + celery. Cook for another 30ish minutes until the wild rice is soft and chewy, and the vegetables have softened but still have bite to them. Taste along the way as always.
5. Add in the coconut yogurt, the pumpkin seeds, pine nuts, parsley, stir, and cook on low for just a few more minutes. Does the soup look brothy enough? This isn’t a chili so ensure there’s plenty of liquid. Things are coming together now. Is there a good balance of salt, fat, acid, and heat? Taste again and adjust the seasoning one last time if needed.
6.. Place a few scoops in your favorite bowl. Top with fresh herbs, smoked salt, coconut yogurt, and some pea shoots or micro greens.
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*** I love slow food, so I prefer to use dried beans, which take a few hours to cook/soften. You don’t have to what I do. Used canned navy beans if that feels right for you but you will need to adjust the directions + cooking time, you can essentially put everything in a pot and simmer until the wild rice is cooked, about an hour or so.
Thank you to the juniper tree, the Pueblo for these beautiful cultivars of peppers, Anishinaabe for the wild rice, and all peoples of southern Turtle Island for their deep work with beans.
