Tunisian chickpea Soup - Lablabi

Today I am here with a soup recipe from Tunisia. What made me to try this soup is the 9th Mediterranean cooking event at Tobiascooks.com. We got to make any dish from Tunisia, to get into this event. I searched for various recipes, of all, this chickpea soup impressed me. Its quiet simple recipe that was very similar to our Indian cooking using the same spices as we do.



Tunisian cuisine in general is very similar to Indian cuisine, using more common spices like cumin, coriander. This chickpea soup is popularly known as Lablabi or Leblebi in Tunisia. It is the common breakfast soup there, which is very light and served with a variety of condiments like chopped bell peppers, chopped cilantro, chopped spring onions, eggs and of course the Tunisian traditional hot sauce called has Harissa.

We enjoyed this soup for our evening snack with home made harrisa, spring onions and bell peppers as condiments. Going to the recipe now..

Things needed for the Soup
Dried Chick peas - 1 Cup (Soaked overnight)
Onion - 1 small sized ( Chopped)
Garlic pearls - 3 nos. ( Chopped)
Cumin seeds - 1 Tsp
Olive oil - 1 Tsp
Harissa - 1 Tbsp ( We like spicy food, so I have added more of harissa, if needed adjust to your taste)
Vegetable broth - 2 Cups
Salt - To taste

Heat olive oil in a heavy bottom vessel. Add cumin seeds, garlic, onion and fry till the onions are cooked without turning them brown.

Add the drained chick peas and vegetable broth to the vessel and get it to boil. Let this mixture cook on medium flame for 20 minutes or until the chick peas are cooked soft. During this wait time I got the harissa done.

Things needed for Harissa/ Hot sauce
Dry chillies - 3 nos.
Cumin seeds - 1 Tbsp
Coriander seeds - 1/2 Tbsp
Garlic pearls - 4 nos.
Olive oil - 1 Tbsp
Salt - To taste

Soak the red chillies in hot water for about 30 minutes. Then remove its seeds and stem. Dry roast the cumin seeds. Blend the chillies, cumin, coriander seeds, garlic, salt into a fine or coarse paste by adding olive oil. The traditional method calls for use of mortar and pestal for making the harissa paste. Due to lack of the mortar, I used blender and my harissa turned out to be a smoother paste. Finally add salt and adjust to your taste. The Tunisian hot sauce is now ready.

Add a tbsp of this fresh made harissa to the boiling soup and cook for another 10 minutes. Adjust for salt and spiciness and hot, light, spicy Tunisian chickpea soup is ready to be enjoyed.