I have just made some chickpea soup which can also double up as a dip, so I thought I’d share it with you. I took some liberties with a traditional Greek dish and it seems I have created something that can be eaten as a heart-warming soup on chilly evenings (or days for that matter) and could also be served just as hummus is. It isn’t at all expensive to make, if you use dried chickpeas, rather than those that come in cans, and it’s certainly healthy. You can add fresh coriander to this dish for extra taste, and perhaps an inch of ginger root, minced, for its flavour and health-giving properties. Here it is: I hope you enjoy it! (In US English, chickpeas are garbanzo beans.)
Chickpea Soup
1 large onion, sliced, preferably a red one
2 large cloves of garlic, roughly chopped
2 hot green chillies, cut in half sideways
rosemary and thyme to taste
freshly ground black pepper
2 tablespoons of olive oil
If you need salt, add it after you have cooked the chickpeas.
Method
Put all the ingredients in a large pan and cover the chickpeas with water. Bring the liquid to the boil and leave to simmer for about an hour. When the chickpeas are cooked, leave the mixture to cool and then blend it to make a thick soup or dip. Eat with fresh, crusty bread.
If you want to add spices such as chilli powder, whole cumin seeds and perhaps a cinnamon stick, fry the spices first before adding the other ingredients. This will give you a dhal-type dish, and again you can use it as a dip or soup, as long as you blend it to the right consistency.
