Tunisian spiced chickpea and bread soup (lablabi)
Prep Time: 25 minutes
Cook Time: 1 hour 15 minutes
Total Time: 1 hour 40 minutes
Servings: 6 servings
This soup is a meal in a bowl that will give you all the nourishment and intense flavours you could wish for.
Different takes on the theme are widespread, with tinned tuna and olives often served instead of the egg, or alongside the soup. Use this as a base to make your own! Omit the eggs to make this vegan.
Ingredients
- 400g dried chickpeas, soaked overnight in lots of cold water and 1 tsp bicarbonate of soda
- ½ tsp bicarbonate of soda
- 3 medium-heat dried red chillies
- 1 cinnamon stick
- 6 garlic cloves, peeled and crushed
- 1 tbsp cumin seeds, toasted and finely crushed in a mortar
- 1 tbsp coriander seeds, toasted and finely crushed in a mortar
- 1 tbsp tomato paste
- 2 tbsp rose (or ordinary) harissa, plus extra to serve, if desired
- 90ml olive oil
- Salt and black pepper
- 3 lemons, 1 juiced, to get 2 tbsp, the rest cut into wedges, to serve
- 4 tbsp coriander leaves, roughly chopped, plus extra chopped leaves to garnish
- 4 tbsp parsley leaves, roughly chopped
- 6 eggs
- 300g stale baguette (or other crusty bread), torn into roughly 1cm pieces
- 3 tbsp capers, drained
- 60g crisp onions, store-bought or homemade
Method
Drain the chickpeas, then put them in large saucepan for which you have a lid. Add the bicarb, chillies, cinnamon and 2.2 litres of water, then bring to a boil on a medium-high heat, skimming off any froth as it does so. Cover the pan, then simmer the chickpeas on medium-low for 35-45 minutes, or until they are completely soft (depending on the age of the dried chickpeas, they might take longer).
Remove the lid, turn the heat to medium-high, then add the garlic, cumin and coriander seeds, tomato paste, harissa, three tablespoons of oil, two and a quarter teaspoons of salt and a generous grind of pepper. Simmer for 10 minutes, then stir through the lemon juice and herbs, and keep warm until ready to serve.
Poach the eggs until done to your liking. Meanwhile, divide the bread between six shallow bowls and ladle the soup over the top. Sprinkle with the capers and some chopped coriander, then top each portion with a poached egg. Scatter over the crisp onions, the remaining three tablespoons of oil and a little more harissa, if you want, and serve with the lemon wedges alongside.
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