Roasted Red Bell Pepper and Chickpea Soup
This nice soup is lightly sweet from the roasted peppers and nutty in flavor from the chickpeas. We enjoyed it as a fall lunch with sandwiches.

Ingredients:
- 3-4 red bell peppers, roasted, skins removed (or from jar)
- 1 can chickpeas, drained and rinsed
- 1 tablespoon olive oil
- 1/2 teaspoon ground cumin
- 1/4 teaspoon ground coriander
- 1/2 teaspoon smoked paprika powder
- 1 small onion
- 1 medium carrot, peeled and chopped
- 1 clove garlic, minced
- 2 cups vegetable bouillon
- salt and pepper to taste
- chopped parsley or cilantro and sunflower seeds as optional garnish

Directions:
- Roast and peel and slice the peppers. Alternatively if using store bought in a jar, choose 3 large peppers and a bit of the liquid they are stored in.
- Drain the chickpeas and rinse.
- Chop the onion and carrot and mince the garlic.
- Heat the olive oil in a soup pot and add the onions and carrots.
- Saute until the carrots begin to soften and the onions become translucent.
- Add the peppers, garlic and vegetable bouillon.
- Add 3/4 of the chickpeas and bring the soup to a gentle boil.
- Ad the cumin, coriander and paprika powder.
- Puree the soup (I use an immersion blender).
- Season to taste with salt and pepper and possibly a dash of cayenne.
- Add the remaining chickpeas.
- Serve the soup garnished with chopped parsley or cilantro and a few sunflower seeds.
Author: Chris Walker.
This entry was posted on Friday, October 15th, 2010 at 9:19 pm. It is filed under Bell Pepper, Chickpeas, Soups.
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May I ask why these recipes always stipulate that the pepper should be skinned? This seems such a waste to me. Why not just roast it and the puree it with the skin on?
Looks delicious by the way.
Hi Dennis,
I hope you give it a try and enjoy it.
Thank you for your comment. Actually, we do not always skin the peppers, in fact we rarely do so, but did for this recipe. Many people do not like the texture of the skin, and it tends to make the puree a bit thick. We don’t mind that, but others might find it distasteful, so we included the process of skinning it. Sometimes in the process of roasting the pepper, it becomes chard and blackened and that also does not taste good, so those portions of the skin are removed. Often people can read through a recipe and it’s directions and decide for themselves whether they want to do that step, or take a short cut. It is a very tasty soup, whether you skin the pepper or not.
Ah ok thanks.
I’ve always wondered why recipes often state you must skin peppers or tomatoes. It always seemed quite wasteful and unnecessary to me.
So really it’s just about texture then?
Thanks for the reply and I love the site. I’ve only just found it but I’ve already seen some excellent recipes that I must try.