Chickpea soup recipe

Chickpea soup recipe, and hummus too, is so easy if you keep a stock of frozen garbanzo beans; that is simple if you have a pressure-cooker.

Another real concern of many folk is just how starchy are legumes? The chickpeas in this dish will contain about half the carbohydrate that you will get in a quarter of a slice of bread; not much I think you will agree.

It is what as known as resistant starch; the molecules are configured in such a way to defy the action of enzymes so there is a slow release of glucose.

Yes, the world's favourite protein source is not beef, or mutton; neither is it pork, chicken or fish. It is what the Americans call the garbanzo-bean. And unlike soyas the Amazon forests are not being raized to grow it. It is environmentally friendly.

This page was last updated by Bernard Preston on 8th August, 2019.

Nourishing, full of phytosterols, low in glycemic-index and cheap, this chickpea soup is slow food, made fast; it is all good stuff. But, let us be candid, legumes in general, are short on flavour.

So add garlic, rosemary and thyme; and garlic and tomatoes when cooking chickpeas. It is all good stuff. Sour cream too if your LDL cholesterol is in good shape.

I am a writer but no poet, but my aunt B, well into her nineties, made this contribution for my brother and his dear wife who cooked a chickpea soup; here it is.

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Our Derek was Esther adoring,

But alas found the chickpeas quite boring.

By adding the sour cream,

He created a taste-dream,

And now they are both peacefully snoring.

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Here is an aside of some importance. I made a mistake this week. I bought a bottle of Silverskin onions, but I did not have my specs with me. These food companies are devils.

The print I could not read without my glasses, and only barely with them; acidifier citric acid, preservative E233 and flavour, whatever that means. They also add saccharine for sweetening; in short every that is bad about food companies.

In short, my little onions are full of chemicals. Do not use such as these for your chickpea soup. Take an extra 30 seconds and peel a real one, or use a leek.

These Silverskins are best described as junk food and, truth said, they taste of it too.

Or, as has been well said, you either have junk or you have food.

But junk food does not exist.

How much starch is that?

Onion (5g), carrots (15g), tomato (2g), chickpeas (30g), pasta (30g). Total 82g /6 servings.

On an extremely low starch diet as might be followed by an unstable diabetic, epileptic, or the very obese, that might be on the verge of too much, but for the average person less than 15g of carbohydrate at a meal would be considered very low. By all means enjoy it with a slice of wholemeal bread. The net carbs would be around 10g per helping.

I now simply recommend the glycemic-load; this is such good food. Avoiding it all the other benefits because of a small amount of starch is nonsense. Instead simply have a smaller portion.

Cooking chickpeas the old fashioned way

How to cook chickpeas

Cooking chickpeas is not arduous, nor is it time-consuming, but it does take a little aforethought; in total about 12 hours, but actual work, probably no more than five minutes.

Soaking the chickpeas overnight, draining and rinsing them several times to remove the lectins and other so-called anti-nutrients, and then boiling them for an hour or more does take time and a little effort.

They are incidentally the richest source of vitamin B6, one of the four frailty cheats, as I call them; those nutrients that will stop us losing our vitality and strength long before our time.

1. Soak at least a pound, and preferably about a kilo of dried chickpeas for at least 12 hours.
2. Change the water periodically. Drain.
3. In a large heavy pot, cover with boiling water and bring to the boil. Simmer on lowest heat setting. Better still use a pressure cooker (see below).
4. Until properly tender. It may take up to two hours.
5. Drain, rinse in cold water, and freeze what you aren't going to use in roughly 1 cup quantities. Done.

Cooking chickpeas is simple.  Better still, I now use a pressure cooker.

• Cooking chickpeas
  
• Solar pressure cooking
• Freezing chickpeas
• Frailty cheats
  

Now you can get on with your chickpea soup recipe.

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Soup and homemade bread. Of course!

It takes me five minutes (+ five hours, of course) to make the finest, simplest, wholesome homemade bread.

Panera bread menu recipe ...

Interestingly, by adding sourdough, and reducing the yeast, we have found that our bread causes far less indigestion; tastes a lot better too.

This sourdough bread recipe is not difficult; I make it every single day. It takes only five minutes to prepare the dough. It goes magnificently with our chickpea soup recipe.

A slice of bread contains about 15g of carbohydrate; I am soon going to be looking at the glycemic reaction, comparing a slice of our sourdough with that from the store. I am fairly sure it will be far less, but have no science yet to prove it.

Are beans very starchy is a consideration, and the glycemic response to legumes.

Chickpea burgers 

The chickpea, a legume, is not unlike the soya bean but with a big difference. Chickpea burgers are delicious but frankly I do not care for soya beans. They are hog food in my opinion, except as tofu.

On the other hand, chickpea burgers are a serious contender for hamburgers. Less flavour perhaps if you have been brought up on a McDonald's diet, but without the cholesterol, the hormones and the increased risk of malignant disease.

They are a lot more work though than our chickpea soup recipe; slow food, made fast remains our motto.

Hummus

Hummus is in my opinion the easiest way to enjoy legumes every day; it is an alternative to this chickpea soup recipe.

I make hummus twice a week, because I sometimes add yoghurt and it does not keep too long. Believe you me, it never gets thrown away. Even my grandkids are enjoying it now. I will admit being a bit weird, but if I have good dollop for breakfast then I am not famished at 11am, not unimportant when slaving away at the coalface.

Then HELENS 15 EURO SALAD is enjoyed virtually every day, always with a good scoop of hummus. On my lunch sandwiches is yet another way to have this chickpea dip; it has an amazing satiety factor. You feel so satisfied after the meal.

You want to get off those cholesterol meds? Have Helen's salad and an ample tablespoon of hummus every day and you are half way there. Add Quaker oats recipes  like muesli and an apple, rich in soluble fibre, and you are home and dry. 

ASIDE: A patient said to me yesterday how much less ache he has in his arms and legs since he has stopped taking statins. But he will have to change his diet. Cholesterol was up at 9. Dangerous. This Chickpea Soup Recipe is a great way to start.

Chickpeas lie second only to oats on the cholesterol-lowering food list. Do it! Or suffer aching legs, and worse, loss of libido.

• Authentic hummus recipe - 4 minutes to prepare.
  
• APPLE DIET ...

Chicken bones bouillon

 Oh, I nearly forgot. Do you want to improve the flavour of all your soup recipes, and the strength of your bones? This simple chicken bones extract, rich in chondroitin sulphate and glucosamine has been shown at Harvard medical school to be a winner with the inflammatory arthritides. If you are suffering from joint disease make sure it is regularly in your food.

• Best chicken bone broth
  
• Early symptoms of arthritis ...
  

Find the links to those topics highlighted in bold by copying and pasting into the Site Search function in the navigation bar above.

Are phytates bad?

Many plants have a compound called phytic acid that reduces the glycemic index; how quickly sugar is absorbed into the blood stream. However it also binds to minerals like iron and calcium; the solution is soaking and rinsing before making your chickpea soup recipe.

Fortunately research suggests the influence is at worst minimal, with the possible exception of added bran; get it rather from 100 percent wholewheat or oats and then it has little effect.

Vegetarians are no more prone to osteoporosis or iron deficiency anaemia that omnivores. If interested or concerned read our are phytates bad page by copying and pasting into the site search function on your left.

As a general rule, chickpeas being the exception, we rather enjoy green beans; they have far less phytate.

This is controversial, and I do not agree with a lot of it, but Dr Stephen Gundry's credentials are beyond reproach; a very interesting video at silence your cravings.

Choice foods

Nutritious choice foods are for those who desire strongly to take no drugs at all, or very minimal. Regularly dipping into this chickpea soup recipe and hummus is a great start to reducing our reliance on red meat for protein.

I love my red meat, but chickpeas belong firmly to my choice foods, allowing us to reduce our reliance on beef, pork and mutton for protein.

I am about to start building a "chicken tractor" in our garden; watch this space. It's for eggs, and fertilising the garden, not chicken on the bbq, though my son in law has named one of the hens Barbecue!

Chickpeas and chickens help us reduce our reliance on red meat for protein.

• Chicken tractor design
• Free range cage free eggs

Bernard Preston

Bernard Preston is semi retired chiropractor who has a passion for nutritious choice foods like this chickpeas soup recipe. It's the only way to look forward to a life without medication; well, exercise is very important too.

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