Chick pea soup with a Basil pesto garnish | How to make chick pea soup

The salad month has changed my habit. It has made me look for protein in every meal I take and I am not able to shake off this habit. I know its good for me, but in how many different ways can a vegetarian get protein in her meal, tell me?

And that is how I decided to make soups as a mid-evening meal , before I have a light dinner to keep me full and supply protein to me. A regular chick pea soup sounded very boring to me. It had to have a zing in it, and that’s how Sriracha sauce and pesto get into this recipe.

I followed the method of preparing herbs for aglio olio pasta to prepare the pesto and garlic together. You can us any other pesto instead of basil pesto in this recipe – Rocket, coriander, mint , anything at all that catches your fancy.

The versatility of this soup doesn’t just end with the topping. You can also use any bean for this soup – kidney beans, Lentils or any other kind of beans. You can also add a vegetable along with the cooked beans before you puree it to add something green into your soup.

Chick Pea soup with a Basil pesto garnish
Serves - 4
Cooking time – 30 min
Level – Medium

Ingredients
Chick peas - 1 C, soaked in water overnight
Pesto - 1 Tbsp.
Olive oil - 1 Tbsp.
Garlic cloves - 5-6, chopped fine
Red chilli flakes - 1 Tbsp.
Salt - To taste
Sriracha sauce - 1 Tbsp. [Alternately, use red chilli sauce]
Hot water - 4 C

Instructions
Pressure cook the chick peas. Cool and grind them in a mixer-grinder till they form a thick paste.
Pour hot water into this paste and bring to a boil in a deep cooking pot.
Add the Sriracha sauce and salt to taste. Keep stirring for another 10 min on a medium flame.
Meanwhile, heat the oil in another saucepan.
Sauté the pesto in that oil along with the garlic pieces and red chilli flakes for about 5 min on a low flame.
Take this off the flame.
To serve, pour couple of ladles of the soup into each soup bowl and top it with the sautéed pesto.
Serve hot.