It’s not often that I can be persuaded to go vegetarian, but if it involves chickpeas, I’m usually sold. This recipe is adapted from Molly Wizenberg’s fantastic book, “A Homemade Life“. I’ve changed the spicing to suit my own tastes and added some more fresh ingredients such as ginger green chili and mint. This is great served with naan bread and some poppadoms.
Ingredients
- 2 tbsp groundnut oil
- 1 red onion, chopped
- 2 cloves garlic, minced
- piece of ginger, minced (about a tablespoon)
- 1 tsp of each of the following: cumin seeds, ground coriander, turmeric, garam masala, dried fenugreek leaves
- ½ tsp chilli powder
- 1 green chilli pepper, finely chopped
- 2 x 400g cans chopped tomatoes
- 1 tsp sugar
- 2 x 400g cans chickpeas
- 1 tbsp concentrated tomato pureé
- 5 tbsp plain yoghurt
- baby spinach leaves, a few handfuls
- fresh coriander
- fresh mint
- salt and pepper
Method
- Heat the oil in a heavy-based saucepan. Add the chopped onion and fry very gently until the onion is brown and completely caramelised.
- Add the garlic, ginger and spices then fry for another two minutes, stirring frequently.
- Add the tomatoes, green chili, sugar, chickpeas and tomato pureé then bring to the boil. Season with a little salt and reduce the heat. Simmer gently for about 10 minutes.
- Before serving, stir the yoghurt through and add the spinach and chopped fresh herbs. Taste for seasoning.
Serves 2-3.
Thinking about it, you’d probably never guess from the recipes on my blog that I’m a huge fan of Indian food. I’ve been experimenting with soups recently, trying to find a way of working the great flavours of Indian food into a soup. I’ve consulted lots of websites and recipe books and none of them came up to the mark. After a couple of attempts, I’ve abandoned the idea of sambhar; I just can’t seem to get good results from red lentils.
Somewhere along the way, I came across rasam. It’s a spicy Indian soup, tempered with the usual suspects like cumin, coriander and tamarind. I was keen to try it, but I decided not to adopt any of the recipes I’d read. Instead, I adapted the recipe for my favourite soup, Moroccan Chickpea, and introduced ginger and some Indian spicing. I figured I could keep the lemon juice as a replacement for the more authentic tamarind. It works just as well I’m sure, creating a nice sour note.
Ingredients
- 1 medium onion, chopped
- 2 celery sticks, chopped
- 1 small courgette, chopped
- 2 cloves garlic, minced
- root ginger, a thumb-sized piece, grated or minced
- 1 tsp ground cumin
- ½ tsp garam masala
- 1 tsp black mustard seeds
- 1 tsp chilli flakes
- ½ tsp turmeric
- 8 curry leaves, chopped, or broken if dried
- 600 ml vegetable stock (Marigold is good)
- 400g can chopped tomatoes
- 400g can chickpeas
- juice of ½ lemon
- large handful chopped fresh coriander
Method
- Heat some olive oil in a large pot and gently fry onion, courgette, celery, ginger and garlic for 10 ten minutes until the onions are coloured and the celery is almost tender. Add the spices and curry leaves and fry for another minute.
- Turn up the heat and add the stock, tomatoes, chickpeas, and some freshly ground black pepper. Simmer for 8 mins.
- Add the lemon juice and cook for another minute.
- Season with salt and freshly ground black pepper, add the chopped fresh coriander, then serve.
Serves 3-4.
Granted, the so-called “Portuguese Green Soup” in the photo here looks more red than green. But you get the idea.
Ingredients
- chorizo, 150g-200g, sliced
- 1 onion, chopped
- 2 sticks celery, chopped
- 2 cloves garlic, finely minced
- 1 tsp chilli flakes
- 1 tsp smoked paprika
- 400g can chopped tomatoes
- 1 litre hot chicken or vegetable stock
- 400g can chickpeas, rinsed and drained
- 1/2 head savoy cabbage, finely shredded
Method
- Fry the chorizo in a little oil until it starts to brown.
- Add the onion, celery & garlic and fry until the onions have coloured.
- Fry the chilli flakes and the paprika for a minute more.
- Add the stock, tomatoes, chickpeas and cabbage and simmer for about 8 minutes or until the cabbage is tender. Season with salt, freshly ground black pepper and a handful of chopped parsley.
Serves 2-3.
I’m not sure how authentically ‘Moroccan’ this is, but it’s quite possibly the most delicious soup I’ve ever made; and that includes my potato and leek effort which requires a pint of cream. It’s hot, spicy, sweet and sour. I’d imagine this would be a fantastic soup to cure a hangover; protein, Vitamin C, chilli-heat. Like a Moroccan Alka-Seltzer.
The lemon juice and fresh coriander lift this soup into a different dimension so don’t be tempted to omit either. You can substitute the vegetables and pulses as you wish.
Ingredients
- 1 medium onion, chopped
- 2 celery sticks, chopped
- 2 cloves garlic, minced
- 2 tsp ground cumin
- 600 ml vegetable stock (Marigold is good)
- 400g can chopped tomatoes
- 400g can chickpeas
- 1 tbsp harissa (this will make the soup quite hot, so use less if you want)
- 100g fine beans, chopped into 2cm lengths (or 100g frozen broad beans)
- zest and juice of ½ lemon
- large handful chopped fresh coriander
Method
- Heat some olive oil in a large pot and fry onion, celery and garlic for 10 ten minutes until the onions are coloured and the celery is almost tender. Add the ground cumin and fry for another minute.
- Turn up the heat and add the stock, tomatoes, green beans, chickpeas, harissa and some freshly ground black pepper. Simmer for 8 mins.
- Add the lemon juice and cook for another minute.
- Season with salt and freshly ground black pepper, add the lemon zest and fresh coriander, then serve.
Serves 3-4.
