Ingredients FOR CHICKPEA SOUP 500 gr chickpeas 1/2 cup olive oil 2 onions (finely chopped) 1 clov. clove garlic (crushed) 1 carrot (grated) 1 lemon 2 tbsp tahini Salt Pepper Dill or hot pepper (optional) FOR SERVING Some dill Equipment Pot TAGS LEGUMES CHICKPEAS LOW BUDGET MAIN COURSES LENTED FOOD VEGAN VEGETARIAN GREEK MOM-MADE FOODS TRADITIONAL FOODS Ingredients FOR CHICKPEA SOUP 500 gr chickpeas 1/2 cup olive oil 2 onions (finely chopped) 1 clov. clove garlic (crushed) 1 carrot (grated) 1 lemon 2 tbsp tahini Salt Pepper Dill or hot pepper (optional) FOR SERVING Some dill Instructions To cook them creamy, they need a good soak. Especially when you don’t know the quality of the legume. First, we soak them for 24 hours. We rinse them and put them in a pot with plenty of water to boil for 10 minutes. We skim off the foam that forms during boiling. We drain them in a colander and rinse the pot. Pour 3 tablespoons of the total olive oil into the pot. Sauté the crushed garlic clove for 1 minute and remove it. Add the chopped onion and let it soften for a few minutes in the oil. Add the chickpeas and sauté for 2 to 3 minutes to coat them with the olive oil. Add the carrot and hot water, about 1 ½ liters, to cover them. Cover and simmer over medium heat until softened but still holding their shape, not peeled or mushy, about 1 hour. If you need to add water during cooking, it should be hot so as not to interrupt the boiling. Add salt and pepper towards the end of cooking. At the end, after they are cooked, increase the heat, add the remaining olive oil and the lemon juice, and stir with a wooden spoon. The soup will thicken and the broth will bind. FOR THE TAHINI - LEMON SAUCE After the chickpeas are cooked, we thicken the soup with tahini-lemon sauce. Put the tahini (whole wheat) in a bowl. Add the juice of 1 juicy lemon and stir. Add half a cup of room temperature water and stir. At this stage, the tahini thickens considerably. Turn off the heat under the chickpea soup. Take some hot broth with a ladle from the chickpea soup and thin the tahini. Stir with a spoon, just like we do with avgolemono (egg-lemon sauce). Finally, pour the thinned tahini-lemon sauce over the lemony chickpea soup and stir. Add some chopped dill, it goes incredibly well. Serve the chickpeas with the tahini-lemon sauce in deep bowls. Drizzle with a little olive oil and, if desired, sprinkle with some dill. Tips If you can’t soak for 24 hours, put them in a bowl, cover them with water, and add 2-3 tbsp. coarse salt or a little baking soda. Leave them for at least 8 hours, until they swell and double in volume. We do a good soaking because they are one of the legumes that you can boil for a long time and they may never cook properly. Simmer over medium heat and not high, because they should not melt and dissolve. I suggest you dissolve the tahini in a little cold water and add it after they are finished cooking. Their flavor with lemon and tahini is perfect and elevates them. They are sweet as an ingredient, so you can play and improvise with many herbs and spices. The cooking time of legumes is relative and always depends on the quality of the legumes and the proper soaking beforehand. TAGS LEGUMES CHICKPEAS LOW BUDGET MAIN COURSES LENTED FOOD VEGAN VEGETARIAN GREEK MOM-MADE FOODS TRADITIONAL FOODS
