Chickpea-Garlic Soup Mmm, Mmm Good

Here's my newest, favorite soup recipe. Is it ever delicious. I garnished it with a dollop of raw/cultured red cabbage that I found in a package in the refrigerator section at Earthfare. The red color popped beautifully popped in the bowl of the golden yellow soup, as did it's tartness pop the flavor of this creamy potage. The recipe is from the cookbook of my favorite vegetarian restaurant in NYC: Angelica's Kitchen. Peter Berley, the author of my 2nd favorite vegetarian cookbook: The Modern Vegetarian Kitchen, was a prior chef at Angelica's Kitchen in earlier days, and is credited for recipe development. I see similarities and influences in the recipes and cooking styles of the 2 books.

I keep an herb garden with staples like rosemary, sage, oregano, basil, thyme and so on, ensuring that I always have fresh herbs on hand to throw in a pot of whatever I'm cooking. I've made adjustments to the proportions and amounts of some ingredients and streamlined the directions a little bit. I always add a strip of kombu when cooking beans. It aids in their digestibility. You'll find it in packages in the macrobiotic section at the natural food store. I highly recommend Mitoku's gold rimmed packaged kombu from the Natural Import Company. It's of a particularly high quality. The kombu is thick and comes from the part of a particular Japanese cove where the kombu has ideal growing conditions. There's a link to their website on the bottom on the resources page of my website: www.AcupunctureAsheville.com KB

4C dried chickpeas, washed and soaked overnight
Spring water
2 celery stalks
1-2 bay leaves
2 rosemary branches
6-8 fresh sage leaves
1/3C olive oil
4C diced yellow onions: 2 onions
1/2C garlic cloves, peeled: 1 1/2 heads
1/2C Fresh sqeezed lemon juice: 3 lemons
sea salt and black pepper to taste
1 strip kombu (KB)

Place the beans in a large pressure cooker with herbs, kombu and water to cover beans by 1" or so. Bring to high pressure, lower heat and cook 45 minutes. While beans are cooking, heat oil in a large frying or saute pan over low heat. Stir in onions and garlic, and cook over lowest possible heat until beans are done: about 40 minutes.

When beans are done, discard celery and herbs. Add the onions and garlic to the beans and puree. Add water as needed to make a thick soup. Add lemon juice, salt and pepper to taste.

You'll love it!


The Angelica Home Kitchen: Mc Eachern Leslie. Ten Speed Press 2003, p132.