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Traditional Greek Chickpea Soup (Revithia)
by
Dr Antigone Kouris-Blazos
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Serves
6-8
Tips:
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This
recipe is very easy, but it takes a
couple of hours of simmering on the
stove till it is cooked; try cooking
it the night before - it keeps well
in the fridge for 1-2 days, alternatively
you can freeze it. This soup is also
nutritional value for money - it is
an excellent meat alternative and you
will feed an entire family or group
of people for well under $10. |
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From
my experience, imported chickpeas from
Greece or Turkey are usually larger,
have a 'thinner' skin and cook faster
than the smaller tougher skinned Australian
chick peas. Also, soaking chick peas
in hot water and placing them in hot
water in pot (instead of cold water)
will keep them soft. |
Ingredients
1
cup chickpeas* soaked in 3 cups hot tap
water and 1 teaspoon salt
2.5 litres hot water
3 small celery sticks + leaves, chopped
1 carrot, chopped
1 zucchini, chopped
1/2 red capsicum, chopped
1/2 cup finely chopped sweet potato or pumpkin
or parsnip
1/2 cup chopped parsley
1 cup shredded cabbage
1 large onion, chopped
5 cloves garlic, chopped
2 massel vegetable stock cubes and black
pepper
iodised salt (according to taste at the
end of cooking)
1 teaspoon dried oregano (end of cooking)
1/3 cup extra virgin olive oil (end of cooking)
juice of one lemon (end of cooking) OR 2
teaspoons curry powder
Accompaniments: bread, olives, reduced
fat fetta, sardines, wine
Method
1. Soak chickpeas overnight in 3 cups hot
tap water.. Rinse chick peas with hot after
soaking (do not re-use the soaking water).
2. Place chickpeas in 2.5 litres of hot water
and put on low heat on stove.
3. Chop all vegetables finely.
4. Add celery, carrot, onion, zucchini, capsicum,
pumkin/sweet potato, cabbage to pot.
5. Simmer soup for 30 minutes then add parsley,
garlic, pepper and stock cubes. (It is best
to and stock cubes/salt towards the end of
cooking because these tend to 'toughen' the
chickpeas)
6. Simmer for a further 1 hour or until chickpeas
are tender.
7. Add olive oil and oregano at end of cooking
to the pot (this will retain the antioxidants)
OR drizzle olive oil on the surface of the
soup once served in bowls (this is the traditional
Greek way to serve the soup). You may wish
to add some iodised salt at this point.
8. Add lemon juice or curry to the soup (both
flavours are fantastic with chickpeas but
probably not together) and stir well.
9. If soup is too chunky (e.g for your kids)
or too "watery" use a hand blender
to blend the soup for a couple of seconds
to thicken it.
10. Serve with wholegrain toasted bread. For
an absolutely complete meal accompany soup
with olives, reduced fat fetta, sardines and
a glass of wine.
How many times a week should I have legume
dishes?
At least one legume dish a week is desirable.
This recommendation is based on the frequency
of intake of long-lived populations in the
Mediterranean and in Asia. More than this
weekly frequency is recommended for vegetarians
or for people who avoid red meat. Legumes/soy
are a 'meat alternative' - this means that
when you have, for example, baked beans on
toast, it counts as a 'serving of red meat'.
See also the
HEC Healthy Eating Pyramid
Last
Updated: June 2005
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