Curried Chickpea Soup With Ginger & Coconut

Ingredients (serves 4)

1 c dried chickpeas

3 1/2 c filtered water

1/2 c ginger, peeled & sliced thin

1 clove of garlic, peeled and smashed

1/3 c washed & chopped cilantro, stems too (lots of flavor)

1/2 c coconut milk

1 Tbsp curry powder

1 leek, sliced into rings

2 Tbsp sesame oil

1 tsp paprika

1-1/2 c canola oil

Favorite herb for garnish (mint, cilantro, basil, or fennel)

Salt to taste

Directions

Soak the chickpeas in water overnight. The following day, drain the chickpeas and place them in a medium pot with the filtered water, ginger, garlic, curry powder, half the cilantro, and two teaspoons of salt. Bring to a boil for two minutes, reduce to a simmer, and cook until the chickpeas are tender, about 35 to 40 minutes.

While the soup is cooking, place the sesame oil and paprika in a small saucepot and gently warm the mixture over a low flame until the oil begins to turn red. This should take roughly 10 minutes. Once finished, set aside to cool.

Now we’re going to very cautiously and carefully fry our leek rings. If you have a table-top fryer at home, great — use that. Set it to 300 and fry the leeks until they are light brown.

If you don’t have a table-top fryer, you can use a pot that is roughly twice as large as you’d need for the amount of canola oil you’re cooking with. Heat the oil over a medium flame using a candy thermometer to monitor the temperature of the oil. Fry the leeks until they are golden brown, remove them from the oil directly onto a paper towel, and season immediately with salt.

Once your chickpeas are cooked, add the coconut milk and bring everything back to a boil for three minutes. Then you’re going to remove half the ginger and the cooked cilantro. The rest can go right into a blender cup (blend in two batches if you need to). Add the other half of your fresh cilantro to the blender cup and blend this mixture on high until smooth. Serve with a drizzle of the sesame oil, a generous helping of crispy leeks, and your favorite fresh herb. Enjoy!