Photo: Leigh Loftus
When I’m dining out, I will eat any and types of meat, from pork to wild game. At home, I would never dream of preparing something more exotic than the occasional pork tenderloin. It’s not because I don’t want to learn how, but it;’s because some things are best saved for special occasions. There are some things I want to see plated artfully by a chef…but let’s talk honestly: who wants to see raw sweetbreads?
So more often than not, I cook vegetarian. I’ll cook the occasional pork chop or beef stir-fry and I’ve agree that there is very little that bacon can ruin, but quite honestly, touching raw chicken repulses me and I find often veer towards vegetables, legumes and seafood without even thinking twice.
When I first started pulling the ingredients for this together on my counter, this dish didn’t look like much. I mean, simple ingredients, 2 pots, easy peasy. I thought it was going to be one of those dishes that just looked awesome in the picture but turned out to be, well, not so awesome.
Luckily, the finished product proved me wrong. The flavor was unique and complex and a few handfuls of fresh spinach adds obligatory greenery for guilt appeasement over future indulgences.
Photo: Leigh Loftus
- 3 cups low-sodium chicken or veggie broth
- 2 (15-ounce) cans chickpeas, rinsed and drained
- 1 (15-ounce) can diced tomatoes
- 1 tablespoon ground curry powder
- Salt and pepper
- 2 tablespoons olive oil
- 1 medium onion, diced small
- 4 medium garlic cloves, minced
- ½ teaspoon ground ginger
- ½ teaspoon ground cumin
- 2 tablespoons cilantro, chopped
- 5 or 6 ounces spinach, cooked (optional, but highly suggested)
- A few lemon wedges (optional)
- In a large pot, combine broth, chickpeas, tomatoes and ½ teaspoon salt. Cover. Bring to a boil. Once boiling, kill heat and set aside.
- While that's happening, in a large saucepan, melt butter over medium-high heat. Add onion and ¼ teaspoon salt. Cook about 5 minutes, until onion is a little soft and translucent. Add garlic, curry powder, ginger and cumin. Cook for another 30 to 60 seconds, until fragrant.
- Pour chickpea broth mixture into saucepan. Simmer uncovered about 10 minutes.
- Kill heat. Stir in cilantro. If using spinach, stir that in, as well. Salt and pepper to taste. Spoon into bowls and serve with lemon wedges.
13 Comments
Natalie
September 25, 2011 at 1:16 pmJust made this for lunch today, it was delish! I substituted Garam Marsala for the curry, bc I had it (for some reason). I will definitely be making this again!
Ronnie
February 8, 2011 at 1:13 amDon’t ignore the lemon wedges. A squeeze of lemon juice takes this soup over the top.
Marinka
April 19, 2010 at 6:05 amI’m definitely going to try this. I’ve been trying to cook more vegetarian, and this looks yummy!
Kerstin
April 17, 2010 at 1:12 amI cook veggie a lot too. This is quite the lovely soup with all those spices!
Dana
April 16, 2010 at 1:32 amYes! Come on over to my camp! 🙂 This looks terrific – I love all those ingredients and those spices – yum!
mandy
April 15, 2010 at 10:42 pmSounds great, Maris. I have seen so many spring soup recipes in the past week that I can’t wait to try.
Cynthia
April 15, 2010 at 9:00 pmHey Maris, stopping by to say hello.
Lydia (The Perfect Pantry)
April 15, 2010 at 7:12 pmI’m not crazy about whole chickpeas, so I’d probably mash them up a bit. It would thicken the soup, too.
Heidi Renée
April 15, 2010 at 3:03 pmI’m going to make this tonight. It just sounds so good. I wish I could just make it now!
I stole your pasta and kale recipe from the other day, too, and then after making scones last weekend I saw your scone post! I have some dried cherries waiting in the wings for this weekend. 🙂
Kalyn
April 15, 2010 at 11:00 amLove the sound of this one. Your photos look really good here, nice job!
kat
April 15, 2010 at 10:07 amWe made this too & thought it was really good also
Sophie
April 15, 2010 at 9:35 amMMMMM,…I so love soups as healtrhy & spiced up as this lovely one!!
A beautiful soup, Maris!!!
Daryl
April 15, 2010 at 5:26 amFor me take away the spinach and this looks perfect.