I didn’t think I would be making soup this late in April but we’ve had a cold snap. I just got home from walking the dog and freezing like an icicle. Time to de-thaw with my favorite soup; I have a pot on the stove right now!

This healthy soup is made up of inexpensive, simple ingredients and relies on spices and herbs for flavor. It’s adapted from one of my favorite cookbooks and has been in my cooking repertoire for years.

Moroccan Chickpea Soup (serves four)

About 3 cups of prepared chickpeas (soaked overnight or boiled for a minute and left to sit in the water for an hour.)

4 cups vegetable stock

spicy “butter”

2 garlic cloves

1 TBL paprika

2 tsp cumin

1/2 tsp ground coriander (best if you can get the seeds and grind them yourself)

pinch of cayenne or chipotle powder

1 TBL dried parsley

2 TBL fresh chopped cilantro (optional)

3 TBL lime or lemon juice

8 TBL olive oil

Puree the ingredients for the spicy “butter” in a small food processor, or grind with a mortar and pestle until you have a thick paste. Add the paste into a saucepan with the chickpeas and stock and bring to a boil. Reduce heat and simmer for 40 to 50 minutes (or until the chickpeas are soft.) Thicken with an immersion blender or pour half into a food processor and pulse a few times, then return to the pot.

Serve with toasted pita wedges and a green salad.

Canned beans are fine with this recipe. Drain and rinse two cans of chickpeas, and reduce the simmer time to 15 minutes.

You can increase the recipe for the spicy “butter” and freeze it for later use.

This entry was posted on Tuesday, April 29th, 2008 at 3:53 am and is filed under Ethnic dishes, Vegetarian, Soup, Food Tips. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.