Chickpeas-Vegetable Soup

Wish you all a very happy new year. Hope you all have a healthy, peaceful and prosperous year.

I am not going to make any promises on this blog, because I was not able to keep any of them in 2011! On the bright side, Pappa had his medical checkup last week and his results were better- which was such a big relief for us. Thank you for your prayers.

As much as I love the snow, I am totally enjoying the not-so-cold winter this year. We had temperatures in 60s yesterday. We could walk in light jackets(there was a slight windchill). We welcomed the new year at a friend’s place, with a potluck. It was fun.

For last few weeks, I have been making a conscious effort to prepare and eat healthy dishes. My idlis/dosas now have brown rice in them, I use whole grain bread, almost no butter/ghee in the dishes, more soups and fruits. Everyday I make an effort to look for new healthy dishes.

Here is one soup that I have been making for a while. I make these kind of soups once a week for lunch.

Ingredients:
1 cup soaked chickpeas(garbanzo beans)
1/2 cup barley
2 cups vegetables – corn, zucchini, carrot, green beans, green peas, celery
1 cup tomatoes
2 tbl spns coriander leaves
1/2 tea spn cumin powder
1/2 tea spn chilli powder
1 tea spn chopped garlic
Salt

Method:
Mix all the ingredients, add 2 cups of water (or vegetable/chicken stock). Pressure cook them for about 4 whistles till everything is cooked through. Once cooked slightly mash the contents with a spoon (optional step). Serve hot.

Serves : 3-4
Preparation time : 30mins (if using pressure cooker)

PS: Most of the times I use rice cooker to make this. It comes out really well and you don’t have to keep an eye on it. Once done, I leave it on warm mode, so that we can enjoy warm soup whenever we want.

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