Moroccan Spiced Chickpea Soup

[JerrieH]

I love, love, love chickpeas/garbanzo beans.  I was looking for another way of using them the other day and I googled chickpea soups and ran across a recipe for Moroccan Spiced Chickpea Soup by Dave Lieberman of the Food Network.  I made it and it is amazing.  It has a blend of spices that I wasn't sure about, but the blend of flavors is great.  If interested, here is the recipe: 

[JerrieH]

Sorry, somehow I hit something while typing that posted my entry before I could copy the recipe.  Here it is...Moroccan Spiced Chickpea Soup                    Ingredients
1/4 cup extra-virgin olive oil, plus more for garnish
1 large onion, medium diced
6 to 8 cloves garlic, pressed
1 teaspoon ground cinnamon
1 teaspoon ground cumin
1/8 teaspoon cayenne pepper
1 heaping teaspoon sweet paprika
1 (14.5-ounce) can chopped tomatoes
3 (15-ounce) cans chickpeas, drained and rinsed well
1 quart vegetable broth or reduced-sodium chicken broth
1 teaspoon sugar
Kosher salt
Freshly ground black pepper
1 (5-ounce) package pre-washed baby spinach
Directions
Heat olive oil in a large pot over medium-high heat. Add onion and garlic and saute until the onions begin to turn translucent; lower heat if browning starts to occur. Add spices and saute a minute or so. Add tomatoes, chickpeas, broth, and sugar. Season with a couple pinches of salt and 10 grinds fresh pepper. Stir well. Chickpeas should be just covered with liquid. If level is shy, add some water so the chickpeas are just covered.

Bring to a simmer, then lower heat to low and gently simmer for 45 minutes.

Remove soup from heat. Use a potato masher to mash up some of the chickpeas right in the pot. Stir in the spinach and let heat through until wilted, just a couple minutes.

Season again, to taste, with salt and pepper.

Serve soup, drizzled lightly with extra-virgin olive oil, if desired.

[LINDA RN]

Jerrie,
When that happens, go back to your post and at the top, right click the button that says Modify.
I do that alot when I reread some of my messages and find typos. Sometimes the typos are so bad I wonder how anyone could make sense out of it!  :shock:

This recipe sounds really great.
I had never eaten any Chick Peas until LDL. I love them now.
Think I will leave out the sugar when I make it though.
Looking at the ingredients, if you add a bit of dark chocolate, you might have something close to Cincinnati Chili.
Thanks for sharing

[JerrieH]

Yes, I thought the teaspoon of sugar should be left out too, or replaced with stevia.  I've never heard of Cincinnati Chili, but it sounds good.  I love chili.  My favorite is the chili from Wendy's Restaurant, but it probably isn't LDL friendly.  Thanks for the tip on modifying a post.  I wasn't sure what to do when my post didn't include the recipe.  I didn't even remember hitting the post key and then fournd out it was already sent.  My husband bought me this really nice laptop for Christmas and I love it, but I'm having to get used to the keyboard and built-in mouse (quite a bit different from my desktop compter and external mouse) and I sometimes hit keys I don't mean to and I guess that is what happened when I posted without the recipe being included.

[LINDA RN]

There is a recipe for Cincinnati Chili and even a Wendy's LDL Chili on the boards.

http://boards.letsdolunch.com/boards/ht ... 96#p101296

http://boards.letsdolunch.com/boards/in ... pic=4855.0

[JerrieH]

LindaRN - Thanks so much for posting the two chili recipe links.  I'll have try both of them.  I can't even imagine a chili tasting like a dessert and I can wait to try the Crockpot Wendy's Style Chili, since the chili from Wendy's Restaurant is my favorite.  Thanks again.  It was nice of you to look them up and post them.  Jerrie 

[LINDA RN]

We are all here to help, Jerrie.
The boards are a little tricky navigating but since none of us are programmers and can write code to make them better...we just appreciate what we do have and jump in to help!

[JerrieH]

By the way, LindaRD, have you tried the dried chickpeas/garbonzo beans, instead of the canned.  I just tried soaking them for the first time the other day and they were great.  I have always used the canned to make my Healthy Hummus recipe, and they are so good I can just eat them out of the can.  However, after trying the dried ones last week to make this soup, they are so much better.  Kinda like the difference between soggy pasta and al dente pasta, where they have a little more firmness.  Really good, but you might already do yours like that.  The canned is definitely more convenient, but the bag beans really do seem better.  Jerrie

[LINDA RN]

I have been using a pressure cooker to get beans done faster and DH did not llike the dried chick peas done that way as they got too soft.
Still have more to cook so will try doing them with less time.
He likes the al dente consistency of the canned chick peas.
I have not got around to using the very soft pressure-cooked peas for the Israeli Chick Pea Soup yet.
I am sure that would be good.

[JerrieH]

LindaRN-When I was a kid growing up, my mom used a pressure cooker all the time.  After I got married I used one quite a bit too.  I even bought a stainless steel one when my DH learned that its best not to cook with aluminum.  I really liked it, but when something broke on it, and I never replaced it.  Do you use yours often and what do you most like to cook with it?  I do remember that you could really cut down on the cooking time with it.  Jerrie

[LINDA RN]

Mine is stainless steel also since I have trashed the aluminum pans for the same reason your DH read.
We used it quite a bit last year but seems like we got lazier this year and have not used it much.
I suppose if I could have stayed home through this blizzard I would have cooked more, but they told us they were only granting sick leave.
Since I was not sick, I went in by DH driving me in our old 4WD Suburban.
Shame too, since patients were smart enough to stay off the roads. and I have so much use or loose leave.
Oh well. Just not motivated to do alot of cooking ahead like I used to. Just DH and I and a few cans work for us!
He used it the most and did his Pintos in it. I think I did a roast in it once.