Recipes

Sweet potato and chickpea soup

Sweet potato and chickpea soup

Once again I turn to my faithful soups. I know it’s still summer (just about!), but as I grew up all meals started with a soup and I want my kids to have the same healthy habit. The truth is I never tire of making soups and made this one this week because I had a chickpea craving. I love chickpeas! (I know I’ve said this before…). And they are healthy too, which is a huge bonus.

Here they make up the ‘body’ of the soup together with the sweet potato. I could have blitzed them all to mix with the sweet potato base but having some float around in the soup for an occasional soft bite makes a difference, which also reminds us this is a chickpea soup. So make sure you save some before using the blender.

Chickpeas

Sweet potato cut

This soup is very easy to make and the sweetness of the sweet potatoes together with the earthy smooth chickpeas make for a delicious combination, well worthy of a post.

Just a few things to keep in mind – make sure you buy chickpeas that are very soft, i.e. properly cooked. There is nothing worse than crunchy chickpeas and a grainy soup base (that’s what happens if you blitz crunchy chickpeas). There are several brands of tinned chickpeas out there and they vary hugely in terms of how hard the cooked chickpeas are. So make sure you bite into one before adding to the soup. If it’s not really soft, i.e. just about holding its shape, then it needs boiling on its own before making into the soup recipe. You can also, of course, buy them dry and boil yourself, but this does take a very long time and they also need soaking. Nothing wrong with being practical!

One other thing: when you drain your chickpeas just add a little fine salt to them. I found that if I didn’t do that, the chickpeas that did not get blitzed into the soup lacked seasoning and you end up biting into a soft little sphere lacking in flavour, which sort of spoils the experience. Otherwise this should be really easy and a perfect end of summer, beginning of autumn treat.

Sweet potato and chickpea soup with spoon

Sweet potato and chickpea soup
Print Recipe
A smooth sweet and earthy soup made with chickpeas and sweet potato as the main ingredients.
Servings Prep Time
6 people 5 minutes
Cook Time
30 minutes
Servings Prep Time
6 people 5 minutes
Cook Time
30 minutes
Sweet potato and chickpea soup
Print Recipe
A smooth sweet and earthy soup made with chickpeas and sweet potato as the main ingredients.
Servings Prep Time
6 people 5 minutes
Cook Time
30 minutes
Servings Prep Time
6 people 5 minutes
Cook Time
30 minutes
Ingredients
Servings: people
Instructions
  1. Drain the chickpeas after rinsing them with water. Add some fine salt and reserve. In a large pan place the olive oil and butter on a medium heat and let the butter melt. Roughly chop the leek, sweet potato, onion and garlic and add to the pan. Cook them for 15 minutes until they start to soften.
  2. Add 3/4 of the chickpeas and deglaze the pan with 500 ml chicken stock.
    Sweet potato and chickpea soup with stock
  3. Add another 400ml boiling water and let it cook for 30 minutes on a gentle simmer with the lid partially on.
    Adding stock to sweet potato and veg
  4. When the cooking time ends, blitz the whole thing and then add the extra chickpeas. You may need to add a bit more water if you find the consistency too thick. This often happens if you boil your soup without the lid on. But you should have it with whichever consistency you prefer, so add water accordingly. Make sure you adjust the seasoning as the water will dilute the flavour somewhat. Add some chopped parsley for flavour and colour.
    Sweet potato and chickpea soup close-up
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4 Comments

  • Reply Andrea September 29, 2015 at 12:34

    Thank you for your kind words and the inspiration to write something freely. Your blog is lovely and your sons must be loving these recipes (proper comfort food is really Mum’s home cooking!) I look forward to reading more, recipes or not. Thank you.

    • Reply The Copper Kettle September 30, 2015 at 09:29

      Thank you, Andrea, for making me feel like this blog thing is actually worth it 🙂

  • Reply THE HUNGRY MUM September 30, 2015 at 01:50

    please ship a bowl to me, posthaste 😉

    • Reply The Copper Kettle September 30, 2015 at 09:31

      Hi Hungry Mum, thanks for dropping by 🙂 This really is so easy to make, have a go and let me know!

    Leave a Reply to Andrea Cancel Reply