Middle Eastern Lentil Chick Pea Soup

My girlfriend Sallie used to live just steps from a small family owned Middle Eastern takeout restaurant in Astoria, Queens. For months we were regulars because of the high quality, tasty, and spicy plates and sides. We loved the food because the spices packed a punch. Not quite in terms of heat, though we always maxed out the hot sauce addition, but the earthy spices like cumin, coriander, turmeric. What I was inspired to make most was the Lentil Chickpea Soup. It’s a soup that we both craved after temps in the 90˚s. If you can eat hot soup when it’s hot outside it must be good.

The soup is fairly easy to make, but it takes time. You could conceivably eat after cooking for an hour, though if you let it simmer for 3, 4, or 5 hours and let cool it’s spices will meld together so wonderfully.

This recipe makes 2-3 meals. I freeze in portions for later use. Recipe can easily be halved for a single meal.

Ingredients:

10 Cups of Water *

Tablespoon of “Better than Bouillon Vegetable Base”

2 Cups of diced Carrots

3/4 Cup of diced Red Onion

1 Cup of Medium Grain White Rice

1 LB. Lentils

1 Cup dried Chickpeas (soak over night)

3 pieces of garlic diced

Spices:

½ -1 teaspoon ground Pepper

½ -1 teaspoon Curry Powder

1 teaspoon Cayenne Pepper

1 teaspoon Turmeric

1 teaspoon Ground Coriander

1 teaspoon Ground Cumin

In an 8 quart stock pot sauté diced garlic, carrots and onions in a tablespoon of olive oil. Remove as much of Garlic/Carrots/Onions as possible and reserve for later.

Place Water, lentils, rice, vegetable base and bring to boil. Boil for 5 minutes and reduce to simmer.

After about 45 minutes on Simmer add the reserved Garlic/Carrots/Onions, Chickpeas and spices. At this time the rice and lentils will have somewhat dissolved.

Simmer for another 30 minutes to allow flavors to meld. If soup is too thick for your taste then just add some water and cook for a few more minutes.

I simmer the soup down to a somewhat pasty constancy, which is an additional

1-2 hours. Until it looks like the picture above.

Serve in soup dish with splash of olive oil, hot sauce, dash of oregano, and toasted pita.