Harira - Moroccan Tomato, Lentil and Chickpea Soup

Here's a good recipe if you have leftover chickpeas that you need to use up. I looked through a few recipe books and ran a search for soup online. Harira came up in both my books and online so I took it as a sign. This soup is usually made with meat but I was only interested in using chickpeas today, so I came up with my own version of Harira.

Harira - Moroccan Tomato, Lentil and Chickpea Soup
Makes 8 servings

Ingredients

• 1 tablespoon olive oil
• 1/2 cup onion, diced
• 1/2 cup carrot, diced
• 1/3 cup celery, diced
• 2 cloves garlic, minced
• 1 teaspoon ground turmeric
• 1 teaspoon ground cinnamon
• pinch of saffron threads, crushed
• 1/2 teaspoon black pepper
• 1/2 teaspoon salt
• 28oz can diced tomatoes, with juice
• 2 cups chicken or vegetable broth
• 2 cups water
• 1 cup canned chickpeas, rinsed, drained
• 1/4 cup dried lentils
• 1/5 cup fresh cilantro or parsley, chopped
• 45g (1/2 cup) broken up whole wheat spaghetti

Directions

1. In a large nonstick pot, sauté onion, carrot and celery in olive oil until lightly golden.
2. Add garlic and continue to cook for another 2 minutes.
3. Add spices and stir well.
4. Add tomatoes with juice, broth, water, chickpeas and lentils. Simmer on medium heat partially covered until lentils are almost cooked through. About 30 minutes. 
5. Stir in parsley and pasta and cook another 10 minutes or until noodles are cooked.