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Chickpea Soup

chickpeasoup.jpgI went to the grocery store last night with $7 in my pocket and the idea that I wanted to make soup with the can of chickpeas I had at home. I had looked at a couple of recipes for Moroccan-style soups, but most had squash or raisins or something else Todd doesn't like. So I bought a can of stewed tomatoes and a box of frozen chopped spinach (I also had to buy milk and I found ladyfingers to make something that's closer to real tiramisu). The resulting soup was pretty good; I intend to make it again so I will record faithfully exactly what I did last night, even though I don't think all the ingredients/steps are absolutely necessary (ie the bouillon cube, the Italian-flavored stock, etc).

I sauteed one small diced onion, then added a large minced garlic clove and a sprinkling of cayenne for heat. Poured in a can of Italian-seasoned chicken broth (the 15-ounce-ish size), a big can (28 ounces) of stewed tomatoes, chopped up and with their juice, a couple cups of water and a bouillon cube. Also added a bay leaf, some oregano and a cinnamon stick (crucial to the final flavor). Let that bubble for 10 minutes, then added half a package of frozen chopped spinach and a regular-size can of chickpeas. At this point I added another shot of cayenne (I used this instead of ground chipotle because it seems like cayenne is more pure heat, which I wanted, and I didn't want the deep flavor of chipotle to overpower the cinnamon, which was a distinctive but not entirely recognizable flavor). Heated and served with bread to sop up the juice.