Hasa Al Hummus -- Moroccan Chickpea Soup

Hajar Elizabeth's Note:

Hasa Al Hummus is a wonderful Moroccan vegetarian soup for a comforting winter warmer. Morocco adores her soups though there are not a million varieties. Many recipes online may taste good though are faux or Moroccan "style" soups. I can guarantee that from me what you get is completely authentic Moroccan fare. I owe this to those interested in Moroccan food/cooking that is authentic. This is a very simple basic soup as most Moroccan foods are. Go to a touristy, especially a fancy one, spot and you will get French food with Moroccan influences; not how we eat every day. We eat Moroccan food perhaps with a French influence or two though never vice versa. My housemaid Nasiha who is approximately 60 taught me this recipe. I say approximately as many in Morocco do not know their birthday. Whip this up like we do and enjoy! In a pinch you can use canned chickpeas. They are acceptable, merely omit the first cooking hour. As an aside, here, hummus is the word for chickpea, not the dip/spread.

• Total Time: 2 hrs 20 mins
• Prep Time: 20 mins
• Cook Time: 2 hrs

Ingredients:

Servings: 6

• 1 cup dried garbanzo beans, soaked overnight
• 8 cups water
• 1 tablespoon vegetable oil
• 2 cups onions, chopped
• 2 tomatoes, peeled and diced (optional)
• 8 garlic cloves, minced
• 1 small hot pepper, chopped finely
• 1/2 cup fresh coriander, leaf chopped finely
• 1/2 cup fresh flat leaf parsley, chopped finely
• 2 teaspoons salt
• 1 teaspoon fresh black pepper
• 1 lemon, juiced
• 1 teaspoon sweet paprika
• 1 teaspoon ground turmeric

Directions:

1. In a soup pot combine the chickpeas and water and bring to a rolling boil. Cover, reduce heat to medium and cook 1 hour.
2. While the beans are cooking, heat the oil in a skillet and sauté the onions, garlic, and hot pepper (we use a small straight pickled hot pepper from a jar) until they barely take on color; very slightly browned.
3. Add the mixture and the remainder of the ingredients to the soup pot and simmer 1 hour or until the chickpeas are soft. You don't want a "bite" to the chickpeas but firm and creamy.
4. NB: The preparation time does not include soaking the chickpeas.

Reviews

[Morrisseyist]

I made this just as written except I added double the parsley and no cilantro because I forgot to purchase it. It was fantastic! The flavours are surprisingly complex and I found both the heat and the acidity to be right on. It was easy to prepare, inexpensive, and healthy! A winner!

[UmmBinat]

4 1/2 stars. This soup is fine. I didn't use cayenne but added a little baharat spice mix that had cayenne in it. I also through in some frozen mixed vegetables DH liked that I preferred it without just because they tasted like what they are, frozen vegetables. I don't think I will make this soup again.

[Cilantro in Canada]

This soup is easy to make and tastes wonderful. Once it was cooked I decided to to use my hand blender and roughly puree the soup. Even my kids liked it. Instead of using fresh tomatoes I had about 12oz. can that needed to be used up. Thanks for the recipe.