Are you on a diet? Want to have some flavorful, nutritious dish that will help you to stay fit and in shape? If yes, then hearty spinach and chickpea soup is what you should try out.
Loads of versions are there of this dish, while some are drier; however, I prefer chickpeas swimming in loads of tomato sauce spiced with smoked paprika, cumin, and a hint of cayenne pepper.
Besides being yummilicious, this dish comes with a nutritional punch. This is because both spinach and chickpeas are great sources of iron and calcium, additionally, chickpeas are rich in protein. While tomatoes are rich in lycopene, powerful antioxidants, and other nutritional elements like vitamin K, folate, potassium, and vitamin C.
In case you have it with brown rice, then you would get plenty of dietary fiber, lignans, antioxidants, and minerals as well. Dietary fiber keeps you full for a long time.
So, without further ado, let’s check out the ingredients and the method to prepare this dish.
Ingredients and their proportions:
• Olive oil 2 tablespoons
• Finely chopped red onion 1 medium
• Finely chopped garlic 3 cloves
• Ground cumin 3 teaspoons
• Salt ½ teaspoon
• Hot chili powder or cayenne pepper ¼ – ½ teaspoon
• Ground smoked paprika 1 ½ teaspoon
• Tomato paste 1 tablespoon
• Peeled plum tomatoes 2 X 400 grams tins
• Black pepper as per taste
• Brown sugar 2-3 teaspoons
• Spinach 200 grams
• Cooked chickpeas 1 ½ cups
• Toasted almond flakes
• Chopped fresh parsley (optional)
• To serve with, cooked rice
Instructions to follow:
• Heat up some olive oil in a frying pan (the large one that comes with a lid). Now add onion and on a low flame, fry it until nearly translucent.
• Time to add chopped garlic. Stir frequently until your garlic softens totally and onion becomes translucent and starts releasing its wonderful aroma.
• Now add the ground spices to your fried garlic and onion mixture and give them a nice mix. Fry them off for a minute or so. They can get burnt easily so keep stirring everything.
• Add tomato paste and mix it with your garlic and onion mixture.
• In a separate bowl, squash your plum tomatoes using a potato masher before you add them to the pan. Now you’ll have to add half of the sugar, salt, and tomatoes to the pan. On low heat, allow the sauce to thicken by simmering it without the lid on. Remember to give your sauce a nice stir frequently.
• Once your sauce thickens, just taste it and also season it with more sugar (if required) and some black pepper.
• Stir in your cooked chickpeas and allow them to warm through. Add in your spinach and cover the pan with the lid to allow the spinach to wilt, as well as cook, in the steam. In case you have time, then you can separately pan-fry your spinach in oil and garlic and then add it to your dish. However, that’s not mandatory.
• Serve it with rice and sprinkle some fresh parsley and toasted almonds.
If you like this recipe, then do try it out.
Last Updated on August 31, 2021
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