This chickpea soup recipe is a great transitional food as we move from beach weather into the autumn, and is a great way to start a Monday morning detox, particularly if you consumed too much meat over the weekend.

Chickpea Soup Recipe

Ingredients

For the chickpea soup:

  • 500 g chickpeas
  • 1/2 cup olive oil
  • 2 onions (finely chopped)
  • 1 clove garlic (crushed)
  • 1 carrot (grated)
  • 1 lemon
  • 2 tablespoons tahini
  • Salt
  • Pepper
  • Chili flakes or hot pepper (optional)

Instructions

For the chickpeas

  1. To have a creamy texture, the chickpease need a good soak, especially if you’re unsure about the quality of the legumes.
  2. First, soak them for 24 hours.
  3. Rinse them and place them in a pot with plenty of water to boil for 10 minutes.
  4. Skim off the foam that forms during boiling.
  5. Strain them in a colander and rinse the pot.

For the soup:

  1. Add 3 tablespoons of olive oil to the pot.
  2. Sauté the crushed garlic clove for 1 minute, then remove it.
  3. Add the finely chopped onion and let it soften for a few minutes in the oil.
  4. Add the chickpeas and sauté for 2-3 minutes, allowing them to be coated with the olive oil.
  5. Add the grated carrot and warm water, about 1.5 liters, to cover the ingredients.
  6. Cover the pot and simmer on medium heat until the chickpeas are tender but still hold their shape, without peeling or becoming mushy, about 1 hour.
  7. If additional water is needed during cooking, it must be hot so as not to disrupt the boiling process.
  8. Add salt and pepper toward the end of the cooking time.
  9. Once cooked, increase the heat, add the remaining olive oil and the lemon juice, and stir with a wooden spoon.
  10. This will thicken the soup and bind the broth.

For the tahini-lemon sauce:

  1. Once the chickpea soup is cooked, thicken it with tahini-lemon sauce.
  2. Place the tahini (whole grain) in a bowl.
  3. Add the juice of one lemon and mix.
  4. Then add half a cup of room temperature water and stir. At this stage, the tahini will thicken quite a bit.
  5. Turn off the heat for the chickpea soup.
  6. Take a ladle of hot broth from the chickpea soup and thin the tahini with it, stirring with a spoon, just like you would when making avgolemono (egg-lemon sauce).
  7. Finally, pour the diluted tahini-lemon mixture over the lemony chickpea soup and stir.
  8. Add a bit of finely chopped dill, which pairs wonderfully.
  9. Serve the chickpeas with the tahini-lemon sauce in deep plates.
  10. Drizzle with a bit of olive oil and, if desired, sprinkle with a little chili flakes.

Secrets for creamy chickpeas:

If you can’t soak them for 24 hours, place them in a bowl, cover with water, and add 2-3 tablespoons of coarse salt or a little baking soda. Leave them for at least 8 hours, until they swell and double in volume.

Soaking is important because chickpeas are a legume that can take a long time to cook properly.

Simmer over medium heat, not high, as they shouldn’t fall apart.

Source: Argiro