Recipe Notes: Moroccan Lentil and Chickpea Soup

25 June 2018

Recipe from Cook's Illustrated, March 2018

Soup is an odd thing to make for summer. I was a little surprised to see it in the Spring edition ofCook's Illustrated. However, I really like homemade soup and I made another North African lentil soup recently that we enjoyed very much. So even though soup is more comforting in the cooler months, I made this soup for a summer meal. Many summer meals, as it turned out,  as the recipe makes a lot of soup.

I made a few changes to the recipe. I didn't have quite as much fresh cilantro as the recipe called for so I increased the amount of fresh parsley to compensate. I couldn't find brown lentils in the supermarket so I used green. Finally, I omitted the grated fresh ginger; several recipes with ginger that we tried recently were too spicy for our taste. Making the soup involves a fair amount of prep work, the ingredient list is pretty long but with nothing exotic. Once the prep work is done it all comes together quickly and easily. Diced onion and celery were cooked in oil. Minced garlic was added followed by the spices: coriander, paprika, cumin, cinnamon, and pepper flakes. This mixture was cooked for a minute to bloom the spices, then minced fresh cilantro and parsley were added. Chicken broth, water, chickpeas, and lentils were added and the mixture simmered for 20 minutes. Canned crushed tomatoes and orzo were stirred in to the soup. After a short period of simmering, chopped Swiss chard was added and cooked briefly. The soup was finished, off heat, with lemon juice, cilantro, and parsley. Total time to make the soup was just 90 minutes, much of which is hands off.

The verdict: another really good soup! It is very hearty from the lentils, chickpeas, and pasta. The spices provide warmth while the tomatoes add some acidity and fruity notes. The soup keeps very well and is just as good, if not better, as a leftover. It thickens and almost has the consistency of a stew. It was not spicy so it should be OK to include the grated ginger. As a bonus the soup is easily made vegan by substituting vegetable broth for the chicken broth. I look forward to making this soup again as a comforting Winter meal.