Chickpea and Carrot Soup - Perfect Soup for winter

Warm soup during winter is heavenly. Chickpea and carrot soup is very simple to prepare and good for health. You can make this soup with very little effort and few ingredients. Flavorsome soup which thickened with chickpeas. The nutty, slightly sweet taste and creamy texture of chickpeas makes this soup awesome. Screams comforts in every bite and most satisfying soup.

Carrots are good for eyesight. They protect us from sight problems which are caused by deficiency of vitamin A. High in fiber content also. Chickpeas are good source of proteins. These two ingredients makes this soup healthier.

1. Soak 1/2 cup of chickpeas in enough water for about 5-6 hours or overnight.
2. Cut off the ends of carrot, peel and roughly chop, peel skin of garlic and keep aside.
3. Melt 1-2 teaspoons of butter in a pan over a medium heat. (I used home made, you can use store brought too). Add peeled garlic and fry till brown.
4. Add carrots and saute for about 1-2 minutes in medium flame until slightly softened.
5. To this add cashews, almonds and kasuri methi ( you can use celery leaves or water cress instead of kasuri methi), fry till nuts begin to brown.
6. Now add soaked and drained chickpeas, saute and cook in medium to low flame for 5-6 minutes or till both carrots and chickpeas are tender.
7. Add required amount of salt. Mix well and turn off the flame. Let it cool down.
8. After cooling down grind this mixture to a fine paste ( if you want your soup to have small pieces of ingredients i.e nuts, chickpeas and carrots, then roughly grind this mixture). Add some water if required.
9. Take this ground paste to a pan or pot, add water and let it comes to boil.
10. Now add 1-2 teaspoons of maggi masala (maggi masala-e-magic) and pepper powder, boil for a minute and switch off.
11. Garnish with fresh cream, pepper powder and fried chickpeas ( if using). Serve hot.

1. You can use grated paneer to garnish. You can finish it with coconut milk than cream if you are concerned about diary.
2. You can keep aside some roasted chickpeas and can be used in garnishing.
3. I have soaked chickpeas for 6 hours and used in this recipe. You can use canned chickpeas too.
4. Long soaking makes it more easy to cook chickpeas.
5. I used plain water for this soup. You can use vegetable broth too.
6. You can first cook chickpeas, fry and then use in this soup.
7. You can add more spice powder like red chili powder, cumin powder etc. to make your soup more spicy.
8. White or black pepper powder can be used.