Sensational Sun-Dried Tomato and Chickpea Soup

This weekend, the only thing I actually cooked myself was a batch of Sensational Sun-Dried Tomato and Chickpea soup from The Garden of Vegan. I settled on this soup in particular because I'm trying to get myself to love chickpeas the way I suddenly got myself to love beans after hating them for years and years--I love hummus, but there's just something about the consistency of whole chickpeas that throws me for a loop. Granted, I ended up food-processing a large amount of the chickpeas (because they were just sitting there, staring at me, taunting me with their strange consistency), but nonetheless, I'm getting a tiny bit closer to a greater appreciation of them.

This is definitely an easy and uncomplicated recipe, but I think calling it a soup is a wee bit misleading (at least given how mine turned out). Almost everyone who saw this "soup" when I brought it in for lunch one day asked me if it was a chickpea curry, and indeed, it is thick enough to pass as one. Given that and the fact that my only real complaint about this soup (strangely enough) is that it is *WAY* too overpoweringly flavorful, I ended up adding water to each serving to thin it down quite a bit so it was both more soup-like and not quite so ridiculously flavorful... I know it is strange to complain about something having *TOO MUCH* flavor, but seriously, I think this can be just as bad as having too little. I'm sure the sun-dried tomatoes were the culprits, but thankfully, with a little bit of extra water, this soup can be turned into quite an enjoyable little lunch.

INGREDIENTS:

• 1 medium onion, chopped


• 2-3 cloves garlic, peeled and minced


• 1 large carrot, cut into thin rounds (I used 1 large carrot's worth of baby carrots, diced)


• 1 tablespoon dark sesame oil (I used olive oil instead)


• 1 can (15 ounces) chickpeas, drained and rinsed


• 1 can (14 ounces) crushed tomatoes


• 5-6 sun-dried tomatoes, chopped


• 1 t. cumin


• 1 t. dry yellow mustard


• 1/8 t. cayenne


• 1/8 t. fresh ground black pepper


• 1/2 T. apple cider vinegar


• 1 T. Bragg's liquid aminos


• 2 c. vegetable stock


• 2 T. tahini


• 1/4 c. chopped fresh parsley

DIRECTIONS

Combine the onions, garlic, carrots and oil in a medium stockpot over a medium flame. Saute until the onions are translucent. Add the chickpeas, crushed tomatoes, sun-dried tomatoes, cumin, mustard powder, cayenne, black pepper, vinegar, soy sauce and vegetable stock.

Bring to a boil, then reduce heat to medium-low and simmer 20 minutes, or until carrots are tender.

Transfer half the soup, in batches if necessary, to a blender or food processor (I just used one of those hand-held immersion-blender things). Add the tahini and puree until smooth and thick. Return to the pot and mix well to blend with remaining soup. Stir in parsley and serve. Thin out with water as necessary.

Serves four.

(on-line recipe from The Daily Herald, original recipe from The Garden of Vegan)