Recipe: Tomato and Chickpea Soup

This is a regular lunch in my house. Sometimes I’ll spice it right up, if it’s just for me, but if the kids will be home to have some, I cut the spice down and they love it too (even though they’re both incredibly picky!). It’s great to take along in a flask for lunch on the go, and it can be kept in the fridge for several days for a quick and easy lunch at home.

This would even be good for an SP day, as it’s all speed and protein – a great little recipe that’s quick and easy to whip up any time!

Key:
F = Free food (eat as much as you like)
S = Speed food (these should make up at least a third of your meal)
P = Protein free food (eat as much of these as you like!)
HEa = Healthy Extra A (a daily allowance of dairy produce)
HEb = Healthy Extra B (a daily allowance of a product with fibre)
# = a number denotes roughly how many syns are in foods used

TOMATO AND CHICKPEA SOUP
Serves 4

Ingredients:

• 2 tins chopped plum tomatoes (S)
• 1 large onion (S)
• 1 large garlic clove (S)
• 6 medium closed cap mushrooms (S)
• 1 medium carrot (S)
• 1 can chickpeas (drained) (P)
• 1 ltr stock / water with stock cube (F)
• 1/2 tsp dried rosemary (F)
• 1/2 tsp dried thyme (F)
• 1 tsp chilli powder (F)
• 1 tsp Worcestershire sauce (F)
• 1 tsp sweetener (optional – to reduce the acidity of the tomatoes) (F)
• Low-calorie spray oil (F)

Directions:

• Roughly chop the onion and crush the garlic, then lightly sauté in a little low-calorie spray oil.
• Chop the mushrooms and grate the carrot, then add all the ingredients except the chickpeas to the pan.
• Use a stick blender and blend to a smooth consistency.
• Add the chickpeas, and simmer the soup for 15 minutes.

Serve with wholewheat bread from your HEb allowance, or syn a couple of oatcakes to dunk in. You can substitute the chickpeas for any kind of bean – kidney beans work very well, as do butter beans and cannellini beans.

If you fancy, you can add a little bacon to the soup (sauté it and add it with the chickpeas), or syn a some chorizo sausage (again, add it after blending the base), which gives it a decadent kick.

This is one of the soups I make most regularly, and it comes in handy as a quick lunch, or as a starter to give a little extra speed oomph to dinner.