Christmas Lima soup, in Instant Pot

The friendliest place on the web for anyone that enjoys cooking.
If you have answers, please help by responding to the unanswered posts.

pepperhead212

Executive Chef
Joined
Nov 21, 2018
Messages
4,851
Location
Woodbury, NJ
Today I looked through my legumes, to see what I had that oldest, that I should use up, and I saw these Christmas Limas that someone gave me last year. So I used half of them in some soup.

First, I precooked the limas, using the Milk Street method - in 3 c water, 1/4 tsp baking soda, pressure cooked 5 minutes, then pressure released, and drained.

I started with 6 oz of bacon, cooking it on sauté for about 5 minutes, adding the chopped onion, once I did that, sautéed that until golden, then added a tb of minced garlic, and about 2 tb of gochujang, and cooked another minute - there was a solid, dark layer of fond, and I poured in a cup of water, to release it. I added 1 tsp Syrian oregano (would have used 3/4 tsp thyme, instead), 1 tb each sweet and smoked paprika, 3 fresh bay leaves, about 1/2 tsp black pepper, about 1 tsp Worcestershire sauce, and about 2 tsp soy sauce (more salt later). Then I added 5 c of chicken broth and the limas, brought to a boil, then set to 8 minutes pressure cook on manual. When it had released 15 minutes, I released it (not much pressure left), then tasted the soup, for salt, and seasonings, and it just needed a little salt.

While cooking, I peeled and diced that small kohlrabi (about 3/4 c), and the smallest butternut I had (about 2½ c). And I de-stemmed and chopped up about 4 c of brassica greens. I added all this, plus 3/4 c red lentils and 1/2 c black quinoa, adjusted the salt, then I set to manual, 4 minutes, and let release 20 minutes. The soup thickened just enough, and the seasoning only needed a little more black pepper.
Christmas Limas by pepperhead212, on Flickr

Soup, with Christmas Limas, bacon, quinoa, red lentils, greens, kohlrabi, and butternut squash. by pepperhead212, on Flickr
 
Looks delicious @pepperhead212 !
I noticed with lima beans over most of the other legumes, created a silkier smoother broth/sauce. Legumes can be starchy or mushy but I really liked how the lima beans had a smoother sauce.

In a couple recipes for limas they recommended removing the peel when cooked. I only did this once and now I just leave them with the peels on. It seemed like work to remove them and no one noticed either way.
The black quinoa gives the color of the soup a nice contrast.
 
@blissful I have had the skins come off some lima beans/butter beans on their own, almost, and that's probably why some recipes say to take the skins off. Same thing with garbanzos - some just seem to come off on their own. Maybe they have bred them to do this less readily? It's been a while since I have had this happen.

I often put a small amount of those red lentils or the moong dal in soups, to thicken them some, and I even have some flour I made from red lentils, to use in small amounts, to thicken. Better than adding white flour, or cornstarch to things!
 
Back
Top Bottom