Halabessa (Egyptian Spicy Chickpea Soup): حلبسة
Halabessa is an Egyptian vegan, spicy, and cumin-spiked chickpea soup that will put your taste buds on fire.
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Ingredients
- cups dry chickpeas
- 2 liters water
- 1 vegetable bouillon (or 1 tablespoon of vegeta), preferrably organic
- 1 medium tomato, quartered
- 3 whole garlic cloves
- 1 medium yellow onion, quartered
- 1 green chili pepper, preferable seeded (see notes)
- 1 tablespoon tomato paste
- 1 celery rib, coarsely chopped
- 2 whole bay leaves
- 1 teaspoon ground cumin
- 1 teaspoon coriander
- 1 teaspoon smoked paprika
- 1 teaspoon chili flakes or Aleppo pepper
- Salt & pepper , to taste
Instructions
- Soak the dry chickpeas in cold water overnight. The second day, drain, rinse, and set aside.
- Make the chickpea broth. Add 2 liters of water to a heavy bottom large pan on a medium-low heat, add the bouillon and stir until the bouillon is totally dissolved and then add the rinsed chickpeas and let it cook for 20-30 minutes until the chickpeas are fork tender. If a foam rises to the top of the broth, then remove it with a spoon or with a kitchen paper (as shows in the video).
- Season the chopped vegetables with salt and pepper, mix them with the tomato paste and arrange them on baking sheet or a heat resistant dish. Roast the vegetables In a preheated oven at 375 °F for 20 minutes or until the vegetables have softened and are beautifully charred.
- In a mini-food processor, blend all the roasted vegetable to a fine paste. Run through a fine mesh sieve if it has any lumps and then add to the simmering chickpea broth. and let it simmer another 5-10 minutes until the vegetable paste is totally incorporated into the broth.
- Serve the Halabessa hot in tall glasses with extra wedges of lemon or lime and dry pepper flakes or tabasco sauce.
Nermine's Notes
- This soup is best made from scratch with dry chickpeas and NOT the canned ones. Soaking the chickpeas in cold water overnight is a must, before boiling the chickpeas in the broth.
- You can possibly downplay the heat by removing the green chili from the ingredients.