Soup is good food

I am not much of a soup fan so if it aint great you wont see it here.

i made this with fresh chickpeas, a million times different than the dried or canned version . you can use dried or canned, but then add something green, like peas, fava beans, or limas. theres just a little chicken, you can opt out of it, its purely for flavor.

1 piece of chicken. dark meat will give better flavor but you can use what you like.
2 cup shelled fresh pois chiche (chickpeas, grabanzo beans, cheche)
one onion, roughly chopped
2 carrots, peeled and sliced
2 parsnips, also peeled and sliced
3 medium waxy potatos (red or yellow) in large cubes (eighths is about right)
5 cloves garlic, crushed roughly with a knife
2 handfuls golden raisins (sultanas)
1 head leaf lettuce, such as romaine (not iceburg, what a useless lettuce )
2 bay leaves
3 tbsp soy sauce
1 chicken and 1 beef boullion cube (or two veggie if your a veg head)
1 tsp ras el hanout (see note)
salt
pepper
oil
two large tortillas

put a couple teaspoons in a soup pan.salt and brown the chicken quickly on one side. add all the veggies, garlic and boullion cubes. cover with water. add soy sauce, bay leaves, pepper and ras el hanout. bring to a boil and simmer until veggies are tender. remove the chicken, take of the skin, shred or chop and return to the soup. add the chopped lettuce and stir. remove from heat.

in a frying pan heat about a quarter inch oil. slice the tortillas into thin strips and fry until golden. one side only is ok. this will be your garnish. add a pile to the top of the soup bowls.


what is Ras El Hanout??? its a north african spice mixture consisting of paprika, cumin, cloves, cinnamon, and other spices. in general its a sweet spicy curry. you can substitute other curry powders if you dont have it. if you want it, which i suggest, you can get it at cost plus world market for something like $1.50. you can also find it at international food stores and many chinese markets. if you substitute do add about a teaspoon or so cinnamon. it will really give it a good flavor.

by the way, i just made this out of all the stuff i had in the house, knowing we all needed a nice portion of veggies. it was not from a book.