This soup evokes memories of travels combined with offerings from the garden. I love soups like this as they are not only healthy but they seem to lift your spirits.
Spiced chickpea and spring leaf soup
Serves 4
Ingredients
4 cups cooked chickpeas
1 onion, sliced thinly
4 garlic cloves, crushed
1 Tbsp toasted cumin seeds, crushed
4 very ripe tomatoes, roughly chopped or a 350g tin crushed tomatoes
250g spring greens: cavolo nero, silverbeet, kale or spinach
handful flat leaf parsley
2 Tbsp fresh coriander, roughly chopped
2 Tbsp harissa (Moroccan chilli sauce)
salt to taste
juice from 1 lemon
4 eggs, poached (optional)
4 slices good quality bread, toasted
Method
Place the chickpeas in a saucepan and cover with water. Boil until soft, about 30 minutes.
Add the onion, garlic, cumin seeds, greens and tomatoes and cook for a further 20 minutes.
Stir in the two tablespoons harissa and cook for a couple of minutes.
If you are serving this with a poached egg, place a suitably sized pan on with water, bring to the boil and lightly poach your egg until just cooked, 2-4 minutes.
Place the poached egg on top of the soup and serve with more harissa, lemon juice and toasted bread.
• This recipe comes from Alison Lambert, chef at the Otago Farmers Market.
