Chickpea Soup

Mrs Bugbear and I are fans of Chickpeas.  During the summer we enjoy a chickpea, tomato, basil and feta salad.  During the winters chickpeas are a frequent component of our leafy green salads and there's a couple of chickpea curries that get served with East Indian food when we're of a mind.

Mrs Bugbear also makes a spicy chickpea soup which is different every time.  Last night I decided to try a new recipe for chickpea soup, one that doesn't take copious amounts of tumeric like Mrs Bugbears.

1-2 tbsp of pureed ginger
1 -19oz can of chickpeas drained and rinsed
3 cups of chicken stock
1 tbsp of black mustard seeds
¼ tsp of powdered asafoetida or hing
1 tbsp of peanut oil
2 tbsp of clarified butter or ghee
2 tbsp lime juice
2 tbsp of all purpose flour
1 cup of skim milk
⅓ cup of table cream
salt and pepper to taste.

Put the mustard seeds and the asafoetitida in a small shallow bowl and cover with plastic wrap, asafoetida is foetid.

Puree the ginger and chickpeas with the chicken stock and set aside.

Make a roue using the flour and ghee, you want the color to be fairly light.  Once the roue is ready, slowly whisk in the skim milk to avoid creating lumps, add the pureed chickpeas and bring to a slow boil, reduce heat to simmer.

Heat the peanut oil in Dutch oven or large saucepan over medium high, add the mustard seeds and asafoetida and reduce to medium low. Once the mustard seeds have turned gray add the oil and spice mixture to the saucepan.  Add the lime juice, cream, salt and pepper to taste, stir gently and serve.

The soup may also be chilled and served cold the following day.  Optionally you may also add chili peppers, I recommend adding them to oil and spice mixture.