From "Delia's Vegetarian Collection".
Posted by:
Sarah Scott
on
25 August 2010
Cooking Steps:
First of all, drain the chickpeas in a colander, rinse them under the cold tap, then place them in a large saucepan with 1.75 litres of boiling water. Bring them up to a simmering point, put a lid on and cook them very gently for about 1 hour or until the chickpeas are absolutely tender and squashy.
While they're cooking, prepare the rest of the soup ingredients. The coriander and cumin seeds should be dry-roasted in a small pre-heated frying pan for 2-3 minutes, then crushed in a pestle & mortar. After that, melt the butter in the frying pan, add the crushed spices, along with the chopped garlic and chillies, and cook over a low heat for about 5 minutes. Now add the turmeric, stir and heat that gently before removing from the heat.
As soon as the chickpeas are tender, drain them in a colander placed over a bowl to reserve the cooking water. Transfer the chickpeas to a blender, together with a couple of ladles of cooking water, and puree them until fine and smooth. Now add the lemon zest, coriander stalks (reserve the leaves for the garnish) and spices from the frying pan, along with another ladleful of cooking water and blend once more until fine and smooth.
Next, the whole lot needs to go back into the saucepan with the rest of the reserved cooking water. Bring it all up to a gentle simmer, give it a good stir, season, then let it simmer gently for a further 30 minutes. All this can be done in advance, then when you're ready to serve the soup, re-heat very gently without letting it come to the boil. Stir in half the creme fraiche and the lemon juice, taste to check the seasoning, then serve in hot soup bowls with the rest of the creme fraiche swirled in and scatter with the shredded chilli and coriander leaves.