Vegan creamy leek and potato soup

How to make a creamy soup when no milk or cream is to be added? I found a few recipes but they all said to mix everything with the blender, but then the leeks would not be visible. I wanted the soup to be creamy but the leeks to be recognizable within the soup. To make this recipes you need to prepare the leeks and the potatoes in separate pots, this will allow to puree the potatoes and leave the chopped leeks to add chunky texture to the soup.




I used:
4 cups potatoes, peeled and chopped
2 large leeks, chopped (there are 3 in the picture but I only used 2)
3 cloves of garlic, chopped
2 tablespoons olive oil
4 cups vegetable broth or water (or more depending on how thick it is and/or how liquid you like it
1 teaspoon curry powder
1 teaspoon chopped ginger
salt and pepper to taste

Instructions:
In a large pot brown the garlic in the olive oil, add the potatoes and sautee until lightly browned. Add the broth to the potatoes and boil until softened.


In a separate pot, sautee the leeks in the olive oil for 2 minutes.


When the potatoes are cooked in the broth, puree with the hand blender, the texture will be that of a vichyssoise. Add the leeks and simmer for 2 minutes for flavour.



Add the chopped ginger and the curry powder to the soup. This will make the soup look a bit yellow, not the usual white, but will give it a distinctive flavour of deliciousness. Season with salt and pepper to taste.


Serve and enjoy!

Chickpea and spinach curry

Since I don't eat any dairy products or milk ingredients at all, I have been a bit concerned about my calcium intake. What else can I do to consume more calcium. I did some research and it happens that spinach is a really good source of calcium, so I decided to try new spinach recipes, containing garlic, of course. I made up this recipe today. The recipe is vegan.

Chop one whole onion and three cloves of garlic and sautee them in two teaspoons vegetable oil.


When onion is transparent, add three teaspoons of soy sauce, three teaspoons curry powder, the juice of half a lemon and one tablespoon chopped ginger (I used the one that you buy in a jar and is already chopped). Stir well and cook for about five more minutes.


Add one can of chickpeas semi-drained, and one can chopped tomatoes. Let cook for about 10 minutes to absorb all the flavours.


Finally add one bag baby spinach and stir just until wilted (not more than 2 minutes).


Serve with rice, I used basmati and it was delicious!