North African Chickpea Soup

In vegan cooking, especially low acid cooking, it’s important to have a special ingredient to make something a little nicer.  Don’t get me wrong—I love beans and rice; but on a low-acid diet you can’t just throw in some onions and peppers to jazz it up.  You have to get a little more creative.

Saffron is an ingredient that can do this.  It’s expensive, but well worth the initial investment.  I made this chickpea soup or something like it for some time without putting any in, until I finally got up the courage to add it to the grocery list.  Now that I have it, this soup is one of my favorites, and I’m never going back.  Sure, it’s good without the saffron—but those beautiful little red threads meld perfectly with the allspice, cumin, and chickpeas and make this soup like nothing else I’ve cooked.

My boyfriend thought it tasted like chicken, and I can see where he’s coming from, but with all due respect to our feathered friends it’s much more complex than that!

Ingredients:

1 tsp olive oil
4 slices of peeled, minced ginger
2 carrots, sliced into rounds
1/2 tsp granulated garlic
1 1/2 tsp cumin
1/2 tsp paprika
1/4 tsp allspice
generous pinch of saffron, lightly crushed
2 bay leaves
1/4 tsp cinnamon
2 cans chickpeas, drained and rinsed
6 cups vegetable stock
1/2 cup quinoa
1 large bunch kale, ribs removed and chopped
salt to taste

Directions:

1. Heat oil in a large saucepan over medium high heat.
2. Add ginger and carrot and cook for a few minutes, up to 5.
3. Add garlic, cumin, paprika, allspice, saffron, bay leaves, and cinnamon stick and cook for about 30 seconds,  until aromatic.
4. Add chickpeas and stir to coat them with the spices.
5. Pour in stock and quinoa, bring to a boil, and reduce heat to a simmer for 20 minutes.
6. Add chopped kale in handfuls and gradually stir in.  Cover and cook for another 10 minutes, until kale is tender
7. Add salt to taste.