Curry Chickpea Soup

Curry chickpea soup with cardamom and cumin flatbread

Readers of the great Florida RV camping trip series may recall I had a delicious curry chickpea soup for dinner one night, and loved it so much I thought I would try to create a version. The first attempt I made, I used carrots and potatoes and chicken broth with shredded chicken. I also added some egg noodles. That was so Randy would eat it, and I omitted the curry and other spices I thought relevant as well as the chickpeas and mixed mine on the side. While it was enjoyable enough to me with the addition of the spices and chickpeas, the Foridian version it was definitely not. I checked curry chickpea recipes on the Internet and found a few versions that sounded like they might be similar. I used vegetable stock and carefully diced the onions, potatoes and carrots. The version I liked had coconut milk in it, and while I did not think the one I ate in Florida did, I tried it. My spices were garlic, cumin, ginger, and curry, along with salt and pepper. It was delicious served over rice.

Here are the two versions (mine and the Floridian) side-by-side. I thought they might have used tomatoes (some recipes do) but on closer inspection, I think the possibility is they used red curry. If there was coconut milk in their version, there was less of it. The flavors were similar and while I really enjoyed my version, I still preferred the Floridian. That is probably why she is a chef and has a restaurant and I do not.

Not one to give up easily, I will try again at some point, but for now it is time to freeze the remainder. It is cold here (below freezing) and the snow just started, so tonight I am making New Orleans red beans, rice, and sausage. At least, Rand will eat that and it is still one of my favorite cold-weather foods. If only I had a baguette. 😢