Leblabi ( Tunisian Chickpea Soup)

EdsGirlAngie's Note:

After all the excesses of the holidays, this is such a nice, light and brothy soup to turn to. It has all of my favorites, including lemon, cilantro, garlic and chickpeas, and it has a surprise taste of caraway. Plus, it goes together in about a half-hour (unless you want to make it from scratch with dried beans). Serve with crispy croutons.

• Total Time: 40 mins
• Prep Time: 10 mins
• Cook Time: 30 mins

Ingredients:

Servings: 8

• 2 tablespoons olive oil
• 5 cloves garlic, minced
• 2 jalapeno peppers, minced
• 1 teaspoon ground caraway (you can use the whole seeds... but this is a light soup and they will sink to the bottom of the bowl)
• 1 teaspoon dried oregano
• 2 (14 ounce) cans chickpeas, drained and rinsed (garbanzos)
• 2 (14 ounce) cans vegetable broth or 4 cups of your own vegetable broth
• 2 cups water
• 5 tablespoons fresh lemon juice
• 1/3 cup fresh cilantro, chopped
• salt and pepper

Directions:

1. In a large saucepan or soup pot, saute the garlic and jalapenos in the olive oil until garlic is lightly golden.
2. Add the caraway and oregano and stir in for a couple of minutes.
3. Add the chickpeas, broth and water; simmer together over medium heat for about 20 minutes.
4. Stir in the lemon juice and cilantro, season to taste with salt and pepper (I like lots of black pepper); simmer for 5 more minutes and serve topped with croutons.

Reviews

[Leah's Kitchen]

Very good simple soup with a surprising amount of flavor to it. We had it for lunch along with salad and Challah. The caraway, herbs and lemon all compliment each other very well. Thanks for sharing this recipe.

[MCaren]

This is crazy good. I liked it so much that I made it for my extended family (who were not enthusiastic to try it [it sounded boring to them] and they were as surprised as I was at how good it is. Thanks EdsGirlAngie!

[Shannon Cooks]

This was really nice for a change. The combination of spices is wonderful - I loved the caraway, it really brings out the flavor of this soup.