Day 21: Strict Vegan Monastery Soup with Orzo and Tahini - April 7, 2013

The monks have taught us quite a bit about food.  There have been many recipes that we have tried and liked.  Each time that we read a Lenten cookbook of any kind, we keep running across a recipe for Monastery Soup.  Each recipe is just a shade different, but all are essentially the same basic soup.  They all have the same 5 ingredients, but the method may differ a little.  After reading many of these recipes, it was time to try our hands at making this strict fast food.  Husband warned me in advance of making this blog entry that it may be too mild a soup for some of our readers.  After trying the final product, however, he understood that this Monastery Soup WILL appeal to people who do want a very simple, quick to make and inexpensive nutritious staple dish.

For this recipe, you will need:

4 cups water
2 teaspoons salt
1/2 cup rice or orzo
1/2 cup tahini
4 TBSP lemon juice

We want to mention the rice or orzo choice.  Rice in a soup is inexpensive and easy.  Most people have some form of rice in the pantry.  And, with rice you know the soup is done cooking when the rice is soft.  But, we chose to add orzo instead of rice.  Orzo is known as manestra (μανέστρα) in Greek.  It is found in most  major grocery stores as well as Greek or Italian speciality stores.  Orzo is a form of pasta, made with semolina flour and water, and it swells to double in size when it is cooked.   We have used manestra in so many dishes, and we love pasta, so why not choose that over ordinary rice?  We did.

Now, to make this soup, you start by boiling water.  Add the orzo or rice to the water and boil until the pasta is cooked.  Then, turn down the heat and allow the soup to simmer.

 In a separate bowl, beat the tahini with one ladle full of the pasta water.  Mix well to make sure the tahini fully dissolves.  This will look like miso soup at first, but keep mixing.  Add a little more pasta cooking water, as needed, to dissolve all of the tahini.

Now, add the tahini mixture to the pot.  Mix this well and season it with salt and lemon juice. Then, when you get the seasonings right, serve the soup.  We found that if you let it sit for a while, the soup gets much thicker and takes on the consistency of an avgolemono soup (αυγολέμονο / egg-lemon).  And, when you reheat the soup, the thickness remains and the flavours start to meld together.

That's it.  Making soup is only easier if you open a can!

The monastery soup is a fascinating because of its absolute simplicity.  There are variations that do not include orzo or rice, and it is just the broth.  It reminds us of miso paste -- just add hot water and you have a lovely, very mild and flavourful broth.  There are a lot of things you can add to make it more flavourful broth, including veggies, beans, and seafood, and then you would have a very hardy soup that you can call your very own.  We do appreciate the monks and their dedication.  And, we appreciate them sharing their soup with us.

"Riches are not forbiden, but the pride because of them is."

St. John Chrysostom