African Chickpea, Peanut and Kale Soup

From New Vegetarian, Robin Asbell, Chronicle Books, 2009.

I chopped an onion and sliced a carrot. These went into a pan with a little olive oil to sauté until softened. A chopped garlic clove was then added and stirred around for a minute. I then added a teaspoon ground coriander, a teaspoon paprika and ¼ teaspoon cayenne pepper. These were stirred until the aroma came through. At this stage I added 2 cups stock in which had been dissolved 4 tablespoons peanut butter, a cup tomato puree and a can chickpeas that had been drained and rinsed.

While this was being brought to the boil I chopped 2 cups kale that I added as soon as the mixture reached boiling point. The soup was now simmered for 10 minutes and was then seasoned with salt and pepper.

This was quite an unusual mix of ingredients but they did work well together. The soup was brimming with flavour, the chickpeas gave a little texture and the spices came through nicely with the slightest hint of heat from the cayenne. The kale, though, was a little lost in amongst the other rich flavours. A fulsome, easily made soup.

Taste: ✔✔✔

Ease of cooking: ✔✔✔✔