Lablabi, Tunisian Chickpea Soup
Lablabi is Tunisian breakfast and street food, a bowl of chickpeas swimming in a thin, intensely garlicky cumin broth, poured over torn day-old bread and dressed at the table. It is cheap, filling, and built almost entirely from the pantry, which is exactly why it survives as everyday food. The seasoning that usually comes from salt and a hard-boiled egg we get instead from a heavy hand with cumin, garlic, lemon, and a spoon of harissa on top. Mash some of the chickpeas to thicken the broth, and use whole-grain bread if you serve it the classic way. It is a soup that tastes like far more than its short ingredient list.
Ingredients
- 3 cups Chickpeas, cooked and drained
- 4 cloves Garlic, minced
- 1 tbsp Cumin seed, toasted and ground
- 1 tbsp Tomato paste
- 1 tsp no-salt vegetable bouillon
- 1 whole Lemons, juiced
- 1/2 tsp Cayenne
- 3 tbsp Flat-leaf parsley, chopped
Method
- Bloom the garlic and ground cumin in 3 tablespoons (45 ml) water in a pot over medium heat for 2 minutes, until fragrant. Waking the cumin in warm liquid rather than dropping it into cold broth pulls out its aroma, and that toasted, garlicky base is what carries a soup with no salt in it.
- Stir in the tomato paste and cayenne and cook 1 minute, then add the chickpeas, bouillon, and 3 cups (about 700 ml) water. Bring to a simmer and cook 15 minutes so the chickpeas soften further and take on the broth.
- Scoop out about a cup of the chickpeas and broth, mash or blend it smooth, and stir it back in. Mashing part of the pot thickens the soup into something that coats a spoon, doing the work of cream or flour with only the beans.
- Off the heat, stir in most of the lemon juice and taste. Lablabi should taste sharp and cumin-heavy, so keep adding lemon until it does, since acid is the seasoning that replaces the salt.
- Ladle over torn toasted whole-grain bread if you want the traditional bowl, and finish each with parsley, a dusting of cumin, and a spoon of harissa. Serve very hot.
Nutrition
Estimated per serving: 230 calories, 11 g protein, 9 g fiber, 60 mg sodium. Computed from USDA FoodData Central reference values for the main ingredients. This is an approximation, not a laboratory measurement. How these are computed.
Cost per serving is estimated from US national-average retail prices for cheap staple forms, using BLS dried-bean prices and USDA produce prices. Prices vary by store and season, so treat it as a guide, not a receipt. How this is computed.
