Chickpea & Tomato Soup Recipe

Ingredients :

Serves 4
Preparation time : 15 minutes
Cooking time : 10 minutes

• 1 tablespoon olive oil

• 1 onion, roughly chopped

• 1 garlic clove, crushed

• 1 carrot, roughly chopped

• 1 red pepper, cored, deseeded and roughly chopped

• 1 teaspoon cumin seeds

• 500ml (17fl oz) hot vegetable stock

• 400g (13oz) can chopped tomatoes

• 410g (13½oz) can chickpeas, drained and rinsed

• 20g (¾oz) each pumpkin, sesame and sunflower seeds

• 2 tablespoons chopped fresh coriander

• salt and pepper

Method :

1. Heat the oil in a large saucepan over medium heat, add the onion, garlic, carrot, red pepper and cumin seeds and stir-fry for about 1 minute. Add the stock and tomatoes and simmer for 5 minutes until the vegetables are soft.

2. Meanwhile, dry-fry the garnish seeds in a pan over medium heat until they are golden. Set aside to cool.

3. Remove the vegetable pan from the heat and use a hand-held blender to purée the vegetables. Alternatively, mash them by hand. Stir through the chickpeas and heat through for 2 minutes.

4. Season to taste, sprinkle over the roasted seeds and fresh coriander and serve with crusty mixed grain bread, if liked.

Variations :

For tomato & pepper casserole, halve the amount of stock and cook the vegetables as above, but do not blend. Prepare 250g (8oz) couscous by pouring over boiling water to a depth of 2.5cm (1 inch). Leave to stand for a few minutes before separating the grains with a fork and serving with the casserole.