Harissa soup

Well would you believe it, memorial day weekend was just chilly and miserable. A perfect reason to use up an enormous amount of tomatoes in a soup. I've had a moroccan soup a couple of times recently and I thought I'd give it a try for myself.

This seemed like a perfect entry for a worldly epicurians delight(AWED), its a very simple soup, but also wholesome and healthy.

I took the tinned tomatoes and roasted them to intensify the flavor, added chickpeas, onions and garlic. I'd been for a wonderful trip to our middle eastern market, north park produce. I found all kinds of wonderful things, pomegranate molasses, rose water, wonderful eggplant and vegetables and harissa, which was the major flavor for this soup.

I wanted to try making harissa myself, but decided this time that it would be a bit of a hassle, so I bought it. I think it would be better home made. I had to add some pomegranate molasses to counteract the bitter/acid from the vinegar.

This was a lovely warming soup and I boxed it up in the freezer for a great lunch to take to work.

Harissa Soup
1 tbsp olive oil
2 large onions, finely diced
6 cloves garlic, chopped
4 cups tomatoes
2 cups veggie stock (I used better than bouillon)
2 cups cooked garbanzo beans/chickpeas
2 tbsp harissa (add more or less if desired)
1 tsp pomegranate molasses
Yogurt and cilantro to garnish
salt and pepper to taste

Saute the onions in the olive oil for around 5 mins, then add garlic and fry for a further minute. Add the other ingredients and boil for 10 minutes or so. Add salt and pepper to taste and garnish with cilantro and yogurt or sour cream if desired.