Recipe 45: Syrian Chickpea Soup with Lemon and Tahini

Maybe you heard about it, but I just got back from Egypt.  When faced with the prospect of cooking for a potluck last week, all I could think about fantasize about (honesty is the best policy, guys) was Middle Eastern flavor and food. Originally I had planned to make pita to go along with this recipe, but seeing as it was a week night and apparently pita making requires some measure of preemptive strategery, it just didn't happen.  The soup did happen, and my mouth and yours will thank you.  I used the recipe from my pretty pretty New England Soup Factory Cookbook (my favorite place to get a cheap dinner when I worked at the Public Library of Brookline and somewhere I still visit when I'm over there for Shelf Respect, speaking of food fantasies...).  It was delish!   

Every self respecting soupluvr should do themselves a favor and buy this cookbook along with the requisite Le Creuset, dutch oven, or giant stock pot.  Because allow me help you out with one thing:  the recipes in this book?  They are generous, and that is a vast understatement.  You can feed a small army.  This is the only recipe where I've been worried about Blue's volume capabilites.  Seriously, the soup came within a centimeter of the top!  Assess the biggest, and I mean biggest pot in your kitchen, and then find one a size bigger if you have any doubts.  

The cookbook suggests serving this with pita chips and even provides a recipe.  We served it with nan, and it was delish.  I think any sort of flatbread would accompany this soup well and would delight in being dipped in to both the soup and your drooling mouth.  Though I preferred it hot, this soup seems to taste good both hot and cold, and what with all the brightness of the lemon and scallions, it is a really nice spring soup.  I should also warn you that by virtue of being a huge recipe this soup takes a long time to cook and does require some planning ahead of time due to the need to soak the dried chickpeas.  If you are pressed for time, I would imagine using a pound of canned, drained, rinsed chickpeas would be a find substitute.

One other thing.  Dear NE Soup Factory Cookbook: WHERE DOES ONE FIND DRIED MINT?  I assure you it does not exist in the constraints of a grocery store.  Maybe it does in a specialty spice shop, where I bet those jerks are holed up with their stash of dried mint, laughing at me.  I went to three grocery stores; three including a super super market,  a Whole Foods, and a posh but little grocery store specializing in weird overpriced posh food.  None of them had any!  I settled on using some full stalks of regular mint and removing the stems later before blending.

On to the recipe!