Moroccan Inspired Chickpea Soup with Pasta

Since I had started sprouting some chickpeas yesterday I knew I was making something with them today, only I didn’t know exactly what. I had considered hummus but the red pepper okara dip turned out so well I decided to turn these into soup. This is a variation of my Moroccan Chickpea Stew only I have eliminated the preserved lemon since most people don’t have a jar in their pantry. I used fresh lemon in place of the preserved ones. I also decided to make this more of a one dish meal by adding a little broken whole wheat spaghetti to the soup. Here is the soup we had tonight for dinner.

Moroccan Inspired Chickpea Soup with Pasta
Makes 8 servings

Ingredients:

3 large cloves garlic, smashed, peeled and finely minced (allow to stand 10 minutes before heating so allicin can develop)
1 yellow onion, peeled and finely diced
½ cup water
1 tablespoon tomato paste
14 ounces tomato sauce
14 ounces diced tomatoes
1 pound chickpeas, soaked overnight (or sprouted)
Enough water to just cover the chickpeas
½ inch fresh ginger, grated (if organic don’t bother to peel just rinse off dirt)
½ teaspoon turmeric
1 teaspoon coriander seed
2 bay leaves
½ teaspoon fennel seeds
1 teaspoon kosher salt
½ teaspoon cinnamon
1 cup small pasta (I used whole wheat spaghetti broken into 1 inch lengths)
1 lemon, zested and juiced
½ cup parsley, finely minced

Directions:

Water sauté the onions and garlic. When the aromatics are soft add the tomato paste and stir encourage it to dissolve more quickly. Add the remaining ingredients through the cinnamon and cook until the chickpeas are tender. 15 minutes before serving add the broken spaghetti (or soup pasta) and cook until it is al dente. Turn off the heat and add the lemon zest and juice. Stir in the parsley just before serving.

Nutritional Information:

Amount Per Serving
Calories - 358.09
Calories From Fat (11%) - 38.95

Total Fat 4.62g
Saturated Fat - 0.41g
Cholesterol - 0mg
Sodium - 586.97mg
Potassium-  875.24mg
Total Carbohydrates - 66.39g
Fiber - 15.52g
Sugar - 11.8g
Protein - 16.63g

Comments:

This is a quick flavorful soup. Pasta adds body and reduces the liquid of the soup making it more of a stew. Like all soups and stews this will be more flavorful tomorrow if you can wait that long to eat it. My hubby walked it the door telling me how good the house smelled.

Each serving of this soup contains 975IU of vitamin A, 90mg of calcium, 4.7mg of iron, 340mcg of folate, 70mcg of vitamin K, 245mg of phosphorus, and 85mg of magnesium.

After our soup we had another fruit and veggie juice very similar to the one we had this morning with our breakfast. I always try to include either a salad or a juice with our meals for nutrition.

Unrelated Note:

I had hoped to get one of the recipes from the weekend posted today. Given the time it doesn’t look like that is going to happen until tomorrow. Sorry about the delay. I am running a little behind on everything at the moment after taking the weekend off.

I will be back tomorrow with a few recipes, hopefully one or two of them from the weekend. I hope you are all having a great Monday.