Creamy Potato Sea Veggie Chowder

by Rev. Chef Beth Love

A creamy, dreamy stew that warms you up on a chilly day, while simultaneously providing lots of essential iodine from sea vegetables!

Yield:

About 12 cups

Ingredients:

• 2–3 medium yellow onions, sliced thinly
• ½–¾ ounces sea palm
• ½ ounce wakame
• 3 pounds potatoes, cut in different sized chunks from about ½ inch to 1¼ inch
• 4–6 cups vegetable stock, optional
• ¾ cup raw, unsalted cashews
• 1–2 tablespoons dulse flakes, to taste
• 2 cups celery, ¼ inch slices

Directions:

1. Heat a heavy bottomed stainless steel pot on high until a drop of water dropped into the pot hisses. Add the onions and caramelize, stirring continuously to keep from sticking and burning. Add a little veggie stock or water a teaspoon or so at a time, to deglaze the pan and reduce sticking. Turn down the heat and/or remove pot from heat as needed.
2. Continue cooking the onions and stirring them until they are lightly browned and tender.
3. Add potatoes to pot and pour in vegetable stock or water to almost cover potatoes. Cover pot and turn on high, paying attention so it doesn’t boil over.
4. Place wakame in a quart jar or dish and cover with water. Leave to soak. (If your wakame seems thick and very dry, follow the steps as outlined in these directions. If it is somewhat tender-looking, start soaking it a little later so it won’t get mushy.)
5. Place sea palm fronds in a quart jar or dish and cover with water. Leave to soak.
6. When the soup comes to a boil, turn down heat to keep it at a low boil.
7. Place cashews and 1 cup vegetable stock or water in a blender. Blend until smooth and creamy, pausing to scrape down as needed.
8. When large chunks of potato are barely tender, remove wakame from water. Cut thick midrib out and cut it into one inch pieces. Add to pot. Cut remaining leaves into strips, according to your preference. Reserve to add to pot later.
9. Remove sea palm fronds from soaking water and add to pot. You can cut them first if you prefer smaller pieces, or leave them whole if you like.
10. When potatoes are about half cooked, add reserved wakame leaves and 1 tablespoon dulse flakes.
11. When large chunks of potatoes are fully cooked but still firm, add cashew cream and stir it into the soup. Cook for another minute or so to allow cashew cream to thicken.
12. Stir in celery and turn off heat.
13. Taste and add additional dulse if desired.
14. Serve in bowls.

Notes, Substitutions, and Variations:

• This is a very large pot of soup, intended to make two or three meals for a family of 3–5. At Tastes Like Love, we call this “Planned Overs.” You can reduce quantities if you will not be able to use the amount the recipe yields.
• The rationale for cutting the potatoes in different sizes is so that some will break down completely and, with the cashews, make a thick, creamy soup, but to have some large enough to remain as whole chunks.
• The trickiest part of this soup is having all of the parts ready to eat at the same time. The celery is easy because it will cook enough but still be slightly crunchy if you throw it in at the end. The trick is getting the sea palm and wakame tender enough while there are still potato chunks, and not putting the sea veggies in so early that they fall apart completely. Of course, if you aren’t successful at getting it all just perfect, it will still be delicious! If you make it several times using sea veggies from the same company, you will start to get a sense of how long each thing needs to cook to the consistency you like.
• This soup is free of added salt, oil, and sugar. There is so much flavor in it that most people will find it delicious as is.
• You can swap in different sea vegetables. For instance you can try arame, kombu, or a sea veggie salad mix. If using kombu, start soaking before caramelizing onions, and put it in when you put in the potatoes. If using a veggie salad mix, follow the soaking directions on the package, then put the soaked sea veggies in the soup for just a minute or so. You can also find instant or quick cooking wakame that needs no soaking and can be added about 3 minutes before taking the soup off the heat.
• Consider including additional land vegetables such as broccoli, cauliflower, greens, summer squash, or eggplant.
• Substitute leeks for the onions. If you use leeks, caramelize some and save some to put in later to be cooked until just tender but still green.
• Add mushrooms.
• See what happens if you use purple potatoes!
• Add black pepper or red pepper flakes if you want a little punch.