This is a crazy delicious lemony soup with orzo pasta and tender bok choy, topped with succulent chickpea meatballs that melt in your mouth. Truly a delicious dish!
In a skillet over medium heat in a medium to large soup pot, sauté the onions, celery and peppers in the olive oil until the onion becomes transparent, about 7-8 minutes. Then, add 1 ½ quarts of the stock and bring to a boil. Turn down the heat and continue to let the soup simmer, seasoning while you go with the rice vinegar, garlic powder, onion powder, salt and pepper. Cover the pot with a lid.
Prepare the bok choy and set aside. Also, squeeze the lemon and set that aside, too.
Next, prepare the "cheatballs" while the soup is simmering. Mix water and ground flax seed together, and let thicken, about 5 minutes. Then, in a skillet over medium heat sauté the onion, pepper, and carrot in olive oil, until the onion becomes transparent, also about 7-8 minutes.
Preheat the oven to 375°F. Roughly smash the canned chickpeas (after rinsing them) with a fork. Not too much – you want the chickpeas to have some chunks. In a medium bowl, combine the chickpeas along with the the ground flax seed mixture, nutritional yeast, sautéed vegetables, Panko breadcrumbs, tamari, salt and pepper. Stir this together until it forms a cohesive mixture.
Roll the cheatballs a little bigger than a walnut-size, and place them on a baking sheet prepared with a light layer of cooking spray. This should yield around 18 cheatballs. Bake for 14 minutes, then turn the cheatballs carefully, and bake for another 14 minutes or so, until they are golden brown and crispy-feeling.
After simmering the soup for at least 30 minutes (while cheatballs are in the oven), add the rest of the 1/2 quart of broth or stock, turn up the heat to medium-high heat and then add the orzo pasta. Bring the soup to a boil and then turn back down to simmer (low-medium to medium heat), stirring frequently and checking the doneness of the orzo. After about 7 minutes or once the orzo is almost cooked, bring the heat up once more and add the lemon juice and bok choy. Stir bok choy into the broth until it begins to wilt – a couple minutes. Turn the heat off and cover the soup for 5 minutes.Now, enjoy the soup topped with the cheatballs!