Curried Coconut Chickpea Soup

This is why Soupruary exists.

In the end it isn't about soup. Let's face it: Soup is about the least exciting food there is (excepting, like, gruel). Saying a person smells like soup is just a hop-skip-jump away from creepsville. But a good bowl of soup can bring friends together for a living room picnic and provide the sustenance needed to speculate over Justin Bieber's use of Latisse, or relive one of the great moments of entertainment justice by rewatching Kyle Chandler's 2011 Emmys acceptance speech.

We treated our conversations, our videos, our laughter, our blog viewings all as though we were saving the world. That's the way it is with great nights with great friends. And it all happened because Erin emailed at 4 o'clock and asked if I was making soup.

Of course I was! After last night's disastacle, I was ready for something I knew would be hearty and chunky and warming. I looked at good ol' epicurious and about 3 minutes later this soup applied for a position in my tummy and I was like COME ON IN I'M HIRING! It had excellent qualifications, by which I mean it had a history of great user reviews and I already had all of the required ingredients.

It's not the most memorable soup in the world, but it gave me life after a long and weird day. This is a good standard weeknight meal to keep in mind. Real sustenance, ya know?

Erin and Kenneth brought some delicious cheese and crackers, I threw together a quick salad and the beets I've been addicted to since I made them for Christmas, and we had a lumpday feast. (If you can call it a feast when you're sitting on the floor.

Also giving me life: Dessert! Erin and Ken brought these gorgeous gems that believe it or not came from Kroger! Kroger is really stepping up its game, y'all. 

Before the pre-Valentine's Day massacre:

And after.

Please note that the strawberry, the only thing of debatable nutritional value (it was glazed) on the plate, was left nearly pristine. Priorities, people.

A night that ends with me cleaning dried up whipped cream off the table is no holds barred the best kind of night. And without this silly thing called Soupruary it probably wouldn't have been tonight, when I absolutely needed it. So thanks, E&K, and thanks, soup.This was a big bearhug of a night.

Curried Coconut Chickpea Soup

Adapted from Donna Klein's The Tropical Vegan Kitchen, via epicurious, which adds the adjective "African" to the beginning of the recipe title, but Africa is a large continent and that seems too general for me to perpetuate such nomenclature.

Serves 4

GET THIS STUFF

2 T grapeseed oil
1 small white onion, chopped
1 red bell pepper, chopped
1 jalapeño, seeded and chopped
2 cloves of garlic, minced or pressed
2 c vegetable broth
1 can chickpeas, drained and rinsed
1 can diced tomatoes, drained
1 scant T curry powder
3/4 t salt
1/2 t ground black pepper
1 can light coconut milk
3/4 c cooked rice (I used red because I had it in the fridge)
2 T chopped Italian parsley

DO THIS WITH IT

Heat oil in your soup pot over medium heat.

Add onion, bell pepper and  jalapeño and cook for about 5 minutes.

Add garlic and stir around for a minute or two more.

Add broth, chickpeas, tomatoes, curry powder, salt and pepper, and bring to a boil.

Turn heat down and simmer for 10 minutes or so (or if it's handier, cover and turn heat to low and just let it hang out there until 5 mintues before you're ready to serve it. It won't hurt anything at all).

Stir in coconut milk, rice and parsley. Cook for about 3 minutes, until rice is heated through.

Taste for seasoning and serve.