Muhammara & Cauliflower Soup

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I obviously love Muhammara and judging from the past few post and Instagram photos, I obviously love cauliflower.  Not sure what my thought process was that led me to come up with this genius idea :)  I do know that the idea simmered in my mind for a few days before I actually executed.  The stars aligned a few days ago and the universe was basically forcing me to make this soup.  I had preordered a book called Soup for Syria,  a humanitarian cookbook project whose profits will be donated to the UN Refugee Agency UNHCR to provide urgently needed food relief for Syrian refugees, which arrived that day.  I also caught the first glimpse of fall which for Southern California included 10 minutes of drizzle and some clouds, but it was enough for me to jump on the opportunity to make this soup.

Muhammara is a red pepper spread which originates in Aleppo, Syria.  It's made from roasted red peppers, walnuts, and sautéed cumin.  Traditionally it is only used as a dip but I literally with no exaggeration use it almost every day for everything.  Most often, I use it as a paste to thicken and add flavor to any sauce slash soup I'm making.  

INGREDIENTS

  • 1 tablespoons of Muhammara 
  • 2 cups baked cauliflower
  • 3 cups chicken stock
  • 1 small onion sliced
  • Salt & Pepper
  • 1 teaspoon olive oil

INSTRUCTIONS

  • Preheat oven to 350
  • Drizzle olive oil, salt & pepper on cauliflower and bake for 10 minutes or so
  • On stovetop medium heat sauté sliced onion in olive oil to caramelize
  • Add chicken stock and muhammara to chicken stock
  • Add baked cauliflower to chicken stock for a few minutes so flavors can simmer together 
  • Add everything to blender and blend until desired consistency
  • Optional: Serve with pita chips and spoon of muhammara

INSTRUTIONS TO MAKE PITA CHIPS

  • Preheat oven to 350
  • Cut pita bread into desired shape
  • Drizzle with olive oil and whatever seasoning (I did just salt and pepper)
  • Put in oven for 5 minutes
  • Monitor carefully remove when golden brown

INSTRUCTIONS TO MAKE MUHAMMARA in case our store is out of stock =(

INGREDIENTS

  • 1 cup plain breadcrumbs
  • 1/2 cup extra virgin olive oil
  • 2 teaspoons tahini
  • 1/2 cup walnuts
  • 3 red bell peppers
  • 1/2 small yellow onion
  • 2 tablespoons pomegranate molasses
  • 1 tablespoon Chili paste or Chili powder
  • 2 teaspoons ground cumin
  • 1 teaspoon salt

INSTRUCTIONS

  • Roast the red peppers on the stove top until skin starts to peel off
  • Roast the walnuts in the oven at 350 until they are golden brown
  • Pulse walnuts in food processor until they are desired size (some like it bigger for more crunch, some like it finer) set aside
  • Add all ingredients to the food processor and pulse
  • Add walnuts at the end
  • Keep in the fridge for up to a week