Spicy Chickpea and Bulgur Soup

Let's begin with a dramatic reading, shall we?

Soupy, I don't care what your daddy do. 'Cause you know, Soupy girl, I'm in love with you. Hang on, Soupy. Soupy, hang on. 

First ingredient to be prepped: vino.

My beautiful and talented friend Emily let me invade her kitchen for a night to make her dinner. I feel okay about the invasion, because Emily said this meal had all the flavors she loves, and I'd say the same. Neither of us could stop eating it, but as for me and my bowl, I lost count on return trips to the kitchen. 

I served this soup alongside a cucumber/tomato/parsley/lemon/cumin/cayenne salad, which I mention only because it was a pretty dang perf accompaniment. Crisp, refreshing, spicy - and comes together in like 22 seconds. 

Back to the main event, though: The base of the soup is totally serviceable. I mean, there's absolutely nothing wrong with it. In fact, when I tried it I had an instant crush. Heavily spiced and heartily textured - and vegan to boot - this is the kind of soup that makes me question why I bother eating non-soup foods. The harissa, a delightfully pungent roasted red pepper paste, does the bulk of the work here. In other words: 

Why yes, I am a photoshop expert. How did  you know?

I went to Dean's at Findlay Market on my lunch break and had some choices to make. Spicy or mild? Fancy jar or convenient squeeze tube? Whole-Foods-looking $10 brand or $3.50 authentic-looking "DEA" brand? 

Pro tip: Use pages from the Bonobos catalog you were going to throw away as bookmarks in your cookbooks. Instant hot dinner date!

Come on, how am I not going to pick DEA brand? I'm not trying to cheap out or anything, it just seemed way more real and way more like it had a hilariously inappropriate name. Hey, if harissa is a drug, I would like to (en)force it on all y'all, because my first reaction to this soup all by its lonesome: WINNER WINNER CHICKPEA DINNER!

But once you've stirred in a bit of this salty, green-flecked feta cream, you know that serving the soup on its own would be tantamount to slapping your dinnermate in the face while delivering a devastating yo momma joke, something like "yo momma so stupid she thinks this soup is better without feta cream." By which I mean it would be insulting. And yeah, I realize I should have just said that. 

Although there's twice as much cilantro as mint in the cream, mint is definitely the dominant flavor - and it's ggggood. If you aren't a cilantro person, you could absolutely switch it out for parsley, just don't tell me about it (I know you think it tastes like soap but f'real when did you last eat soap, honey?).

Back to slightly off the beaten track brands to be found at Dean's, these chickpeas...I've never had better canned chickpeas. I want to buy them only there from now on. As soon as I popped that can, I knew I had something special. The color was not even close to anemic, and I squished one between my finders and it was just so squishable. They were so tender, none of that undercooked starchiness you sometimes get. And they didn't fall apart when I cooked them longer. YOU GUYS DID YOU KNOW YOU COULD DANCE ABOUT CHICKPEAS? I was so happy to learn that fact.

Waiting patiently for to become part of something greater.

Now on to the final element: the bulgur. Not the most pleasant sounding word, right? WRONG. For me this word tastes like memories of my gramma making her perfect pilaf that she refused to tell anyone else how to make ("Oh, you just make it, I don't know."). Any time I hear the word bulgur, I'm instantly back on a stool in her fantastic-smelling, no-microwave-having kitchen, and that thought is one of my happiest. Lesson being: Don't judge a food by its gross name.

But really the final element of this soup was a perfect night with a beautiful friend. We talked and laughed and got angry for one another and at least nearly cried a few times. We watched videos on YouTube and listened to Smashing Pumpkins. Her super cute dog gave me snuggles and high fives. It was a great night, and a great soup. FIVE STARS.

High tens, even!

Spicy Chickpea and Bulgur Soup

Serves 4

Barely adapted from Yotam Ottolenghi's Plenty More

2 tablespoons olive oil

1 medium white onion, 1/2" diced

2 or 3 carrots, peeled and 1/2" diced (about 2 cups)

3 stalks celery, peeled and 1/2" diced (about 2 cups)

2 tablespoons harissa paste

1 teaspoon ground cumin

1 teaspoon ground coriander

1 1/2 teaspoons caraway seeds

1 29-ounce can chickpeas, drained and rinsed

5 cups vegetable broth (broken record if you read this blog, but I used Better Than Bouillon No Chicken Base)

3/4 cup coarse bulgur

1/2 cup feta

1/4 cup crème fraîche

1 cup cilantro leaves

1/2 cup mint leaves

Heat the olive oil in a medium pot over medium heat - double medium! Add the onions, season with some salt and pepper, and cook until transparent (five minutes). Add garlic, carrots and celery and cook for another eight minutes. Stir in harissa, cumin, coriander and caraway seeds and cook for two more minutes. 

Stir in chickpeas and some more salt and pepper, then add the broth and turn up heat to bring to a boil. Turn down heat and simmer for 10 minutes (or until you're done with the rest of the steps - it'll be fine).

While the soup is simmering, prepare the bulgur. Place it in a small saucepan and cover with cold water, adding a generous pinch of salt. Put it over high heat and bring to a boil, then drain it in a fine mesh strainer and rinse under cold water. 

Now make the garnish: Put the feta, crème fraîche, cilantro and mint in a food processor and pulse it until it's pretty smooth.

To serve, spoon some bulgur into each bowl and cover with soup, adding a generous helping of the feta cream to each bowl because you love yourself and your life.