Chicken Chickpea Soup
A few years ago I finally tried making soup from Thanksgiving turkey bones. This led to making soup from chicken bones whenever we roasted a chicken.
We've been making batches of turkey-or-chicken soup ever since. We boil the bones with chopped onion, carrots, and celery, and have five or six portions of soup for two to put into the freezer and enjoy over a couple of months.
But I was getting tired of the same old poultry and veggies soup.
Here's a lovely new combination, adapted from Power Foods: 150 Delicious Recipes with the 38 Healthiest Ingredients
, that features chickpeas, rice, mushrooms, and spinach in chicken broth. I added some actual chicken to the mix, doubled most quantities, reduced the spinach, and was quite pleased with the results:
Soak 1 cup of chickpeas (garbanzo beans) in water overnight. Drain, put into a pot, cover with water and boil for an hour or until tender. You can use a couple of cans of chickpeas, drained, instead, but it's cheaper to start with dried beans and the taste and texture are better.
While the beans are cooking, in another pot cook 1 cup of brown rice in 2 cups of water for 45 minutes. I used sweet brown rice, which doesn't get mushy.
While the beans and rice are cooking, simmer a pound of boneless skinless chicken breasts in a few inches of water in a big kettle (mine holds 6 quarts) with the cover on until cooked through, about 20 minutes. Take the meat out and cut it into bite-size pieces. Leave the broth in the kettle.
Wash and chop 2 onions, 2 cloves of garlic, and 8 oz. mushrooms. Add them to the hot broth, cover the kettle, and simmer for 10 minutes. The original recipe calls for shiitake mushrooms. I economized with regular white ones.
Add 3 quarts of chicken broth, or 3 quarts of water and some bouillon cubes. I'm fond of a brand called Better Than Bouillon, which is a soup base that comes in small jars.
Stir in the chicken, the chickpeas, the rice, and the vegetables and heat. Add more salt or bouillon concentrate if needed.
Cut open a 6 oz. package of organic raw spinach--this is one vegetable that you really do need to buy organic--and add to the pot. Simmer for a few minutes.
Serve in bowls with some shaved Parmesan sprinkled on top.
This makes a huge quantity. It freezes very well. Feel free to tweak the quantities and proportions of ingredients to your taste.
Tim, reading over my shoulder, says, "I really like that soup!"
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