Vegan Reuben Soup

Because anything you can do, I can do vegan.

In typical Deanna fashion, I present to you my St. Patrick's Day post for the year, 5 days after the holiday.  Better late than never, eh?  [I'm pretty sure I've posted holiday recipes after the actual holiday every single time.  At least I'm consistent.]

I actually had the idea to make a Reuben-style potato soup, but totally forgot to use the potatoes!  Ah well, I have some sauerkraut and onions leftover, so maybe I'll put those things together to create something awesome in the next couple of days.  I have had this recipe idea rolling around for a while, and I'm super glad I finally got around to making it!  I'll admit, it's a little saltier than I would normally prefer, but I think that's part of what makes the flavor so authentic.  All of the Reuben soup recipes I came across online used excessive amounts of Swiss cheese and heavy cream.  I, the culinary genius that I am, used silken tofu to get the creaminess of the soup.  I added miso to replicate the fermented taste of the cheese, but it also added to the saltiness, so feel free to omit it if you desire.  I would have loved to have topped the soup with rye croutons but I was entirely too lazy to make any, so I just dipped some rye bread in my soup.  And it was delicious.

Ingredients:
8 oz tempeh, chopped
1 cup vegetable broth
1/2 tsp liquid smoke
1 1/2 Tbsp low-sodium soy sauce

16 oz silken tofu
2 cups vegetable broth
1/2 cup nutritional yeast
1/2 tsp thyme
Salt and pepper (I used LOTS of pepper)
2 Tbsp cornstarch

1 Tbsp olive oil
1 1/2 cup diced onion
1 1/2 cup diced green pepper
1 cup sauerkraut
1/2 Tbsp miso

Directions:
Place tempeh in a shallow dish and pour in the veg broth, liquid smoke, and soy sauce, and stir to mix well.  Let sit for at least 15 min (or longer, if you have the time).  Meanwhile, in a high speed blender or food processor, combine the tofu, veg broth, nutritional yeast and thyme.  Blend until smooth.  Add salt and pepper, to taste (keep in mind that you're probably not going to need to add a lot of salt.  In fact, I may not have added any at this point.)  Add the cornstarch and blend again until smooth.
In a large pot, heat  oil over medium heat and add onion.  Cook for 3 min, then add the pepper.  Cook for another 5 min, stirring frequently.  Using a slotted spoon, remove tempeh from marinade and add to the pot.  Stir everything together and start adding the marinade, about a tablespoon at a time until it's all been added.  Stir in the sauerkraut.  Pour in the liquid from the blender and increase heat slightly to allow soup to bubble and thicken.  Return heat back to medium and continue to cook for another 5 min.  Add miso, stirring to fully incorporate.  Serve hot.