Mediterranean chickpea soup
This warming and protein-packed chickpea soup comes together in less than 30 minutes and makes a healthy, quick yet delicious dinner. Plus, it's made from scratch with cheap store cupboard staples and spinach from the freezer!
Servings: 4
Ingredients
- 2 cans chickpeas, drained (28oz - 800 grams)
- 1 can canned tomatoes, diced (14 oz- 400 grams)
- 2 1/2 cups vegetable broth (600 ml)
- 1 cup frozen spinach (7 oz - 200 grams from frozen)*
- 1 cup celery, diced (1 big celery stalk)
- 1 cup onion, diced (1 large onion)
- 1 cup carrots, diced (about 2 medium carrots)
- 1 large garlic clove, minced or pressed
- 1 tsp paprika
- 1 tsp dried oregano
- 2-3 bay leaves (optional)
- 1/2 Tbsp flour (heaped)
- 1/2 tsp fine salt, plus more to taste
- 1/8 tsp black pepper, plus more to taste
- 1 lemon, juice (optional)
Instructions
- Warm the olive oil in a large soup pot over medium heat. Once the oil is shimmering, add the diced onion, carrot, and celery. Cook, stirring often, until the onion has softened and is turning translucent, about 5 minutes.
- Add the garlic, paprika, oregano and bay leaves. Cook until fragrant while stirring frequently, about 1 minute.
- Add the chickpeas, and cook for another minute, stirring often.
- Pour in the diced tomatoes, the frozen spinach, the broth and 1/2 tsp of salt. Raise the heat and bring the mixture to a boil, then cover the pot, reduce heat and cook gently for 10 minutes.
- In the meanwhile, dissolve 1/2 heaped Tbsp of flour into 1/2 cup of cold water, mix to a smooth consistency and stir in the soup. Srtir well and cook for a further 5 minutes. Remove the pot from heat, then remove the bay leaves. Taste and season with more salt, pepper and lemon juice until the flavors really sing. (You might need more salt, depending on your vegetable broth and your personal preferences.)
- Divide into bowls, drizzle with extra virgin olive oil and some chili flakes if you’d like.
Notes
- I usually make my own vegetable broth cooking for about 5-10 minutes vegetable scraps and herbs. However, when I'm short on time I go for hot water and vegan low salt vegetable broth cubes.
- If you use a broth that tastes quite salty on its own, it's important to adjust the seasoning at the end and not at the beginning as you never really know how strong the salt from the broth is. I would start only with 1/2 tsp, no more than that.
- Leftover: it keeps well in the fridge for up to 3 days. t’s also freezable: divide among airtight containers (leaving 1-inch space at the top), and freeze up to 2 months.
- Lemon juice: although is optional, a small amount of lemon juice added at the end of cooking brightens flavors, especially in tasty bean soups. Start with a little bit of acid, taste and adjust, until your soup tastes balanced and bright.
- Veggies: If you prefer, you could swap the spinach for other greens, such as chopped kale or chard.
- Frozen spinach: the weight is from frozen, but you can swap frozen spinach for a 10-oz bag of fresh spinach if you prefer.