the fall of soup

What with all my girlfriends, save one, gone from Berlin, and not having met the new women this semseter from my fellowship program, I recently decided that this would be the autumn of hanging out with the guys.* I have some great friends here in Berlin; they are all men. I've always had a decent share of guy friends, but my girl friends have lately been the ones I'm closer to. We'll see how I fare through the winter without Lex to drop by for a chat and a drink or Amelia to cook with, but one must be optimistic.

I also decided, having not been able to cook my own style of stuff for the better part of three months, feeling a little blah, and needing a good alternative to the fresh veggies of the summer here in the land of cabbage, that it was also going to be the autumn of soup. I have a cupboard full of spices left by my departing gals, and hardly know what to do with them. But oh, soup...

I am no great lover of cumin, but I have recently come around to loving chickpeas. People! Run, don't walk, to your nearest supermarket and get the following:

* 2 tablespoons olive oil
* 1 large brown onion, roughly chopped
* 2 large garlic cloves, crushed
* 1 teaspoon ground coriander
* 2 teaspoons ground cumin
* 1/4 teaspoon chili powder (if you like heat, bump this up)
* large (1 lb) sweet potato, peeled, diced
* 2 large carrots, peeled, sliced
* 7 cups chicken or vegetable stock
* 1 can chickpeas, drained, rinsed
* 1 tablespoon fresh-squeezed lemon

Then, do the following:

1. Heat oil in a large pot over medium-high heat. Add onion and garlic. Cook, stirring often, for 3 minutes, or until just soft. Stir in coriander, cumin and chili powder. Cook, stirring, for 1 minute. Add sweet potato and carrot. Cook, stirring often, for 5 minutes. Add stock. Cover. Bring to a boil. Reduce heat to medium-low and simmer, stirring occasionally, for 20 minutes.

2. Add chickpeas to soup and simmer, covered, for 10 minutes or until tender.

3. Make sure all veggies are tender, and proceed to blend soup, in batches/with stick blender, until smooth. Return to saucepan (if not using stick blender) over medium-low heat. Stir in remaining cup of stock until blended, and season with salt and pepper to taste. Stir in 1 tablespoon lemon juice. Remove from heat.

You will then have "Moroccan Chickpea and Sweet Potato Soup." (Which I've tweaked a tiny bit from a helpful Australian food site. The Australians led the results of "chickpea soup" when I searched, oddly).

I added a little float of chili oil to mine, and had it with some nice crusty bread and a bit o' cottage cheese. I'd show you a picture, but it's gone!


* following along the lines of the "summer of salsa" in Washington, which I believe was 2002, and involved a well-worn path between Woodley Park and Habana Village in Adams Morgan; the subsequent "summer of pink", when I decided to only paint my toenails pink, was not as fun.