Smoked Paprika Chickpea Soup

You know a recipe is both delicious and simple if we make it twice in one week. That's exactly what this recipe is. No fresh vegetables but onion and celery? No problem. In fact, you could probably even leave one of those out and it'd be fine. You'll only need pantry staples for this recipe. The first time we made this soup we used the stovetop. The second time we used the slow cooker. If you try that, I'd recommend reducing the water by half because the slow cooker traps moisture inside and doesn't reduce at all. 

If you don't have smoked paprika, I highly recommend getting some for this recipe. Smoked paprika gives this soup it's distinctive flavor and regular paprika isn't quite the same. I'd recommend smoked chipotle powder as a substitute and maybe regular paprika in a bind.

Smoked Paprika Chickpea Soup

from Leite's culinaria

great with oat soda bread

1 tablespoon olive oil

1 onion, peeled and minced

3 garlic cloves, peeled and minced

2 celery stalks, chopped small

2 teaspoons finely chopped rosemary leaves

2 14.5 oz cans chickpeas

1/2 teaspoon smoked paprika

2 bay leaves

1 tablespoon tomato paste

1 14-ounce can diced tomatoes, undrained

2 cans of water

Coarse salt and black pepper

Cook the onion, garlic, celery and rosemary in the oil over medium heat until they begin to soften. Add the rest of the ingredients. Bring to a boil and then simmer for 10 to 20 minutes. Remove the bay leaves and puree half the soup in a blender. Stir the puree back into the soup and serve.

When we used the slow cooker, we microwaved the garlic, onion, celery, rosemary, tomato paste, and smoked paprika for 5 minutes. Then we added all of the ingredients to the slow cooker (remember, use half the water) and cooked on low for 6 hours. Puree half like above. After cooking, ours stayed on warm for another couple hours until we came home and was still great!