1 pound dried chickpeas
2 tablespoons baking soda
2 medium onions, chopped
1/2 cup olive oil
salt
1 Lemon
10 cherry tomatoes, quartered (optional)
Fresh Greek herbs, to garnish (optional)
Instructions to Make Greek Style Chickpea Soup:
Cover the chickpeas with warm water and leave overnight to soak.
Sometime during the next day, drain the water and add the chickpeas to a mixing bowl. Sprinkle with the baking soda.
Let the chickpeas sit for an hour. After the hour is up, rub the chickpeas lightly with your hands to loosen the skins.
Rinse the chickpeas well in a strainer and then place them into a saucepan.
Add about four cups of cold water and bring the water to a boil. Remove any debris that floats to the top.
Add the onions, cover the saucepan, and simmer the mixture for 2 hours, or until all the ingredients are tender.
Continually check the chickpeas to make sure the water level is still adequate enough to make it a soup consistency. If it isn't add more.
After two hours, add the olive oil, salt, and optional cherry tomatoes.
Cover the saucepan again and simmer the ingredients for an other five minutes or so.
Add lemon juice and garnish with the optional fresh herbs just before serving.
In a rush? use 4 cans instead. That way, you won't need to soak the beans and can eliminate a step!
Strain them into a strainer and rinse with water to remove the scum.
Add the chickpeas to a saucepan with four cups of cold water and continue the rest of recipe as it is written.
