Has it already been a year since I last posted a soup recipe? As much as I love and make soup, I’m surprised myself that I haven’t posted many recipes yet. Well that’s one of the things that’s going to change this year!
A couple of years ago, we established a tradition in the family, taking turns to host the holidays and everyone brings something to the dinner table. Christmas 2018 was hosted by my son and daughter-in-law, who did a fabulous job decorating by the way (thanks Gabe & Brit!), and I was assigned to bring soup for the first course.
If you’ve been following this blog, you know I like to experiment, so I decided to try something new. After browsing some of my favorite food blogs, I found what looked like a simple to make, yet delicious creamy soup (I can tell by looking at the ingredients ya’ll!). I love garbanzos (chick peas) and I love Colombian food, so this one was a no-brainer even though I had never made it before.
Of course I tweaked the recipe a bit (like adding cayenne pepper) to adjust to our palate, PLUS I wanted to use my Instant Pot (double experiment!). I had no idea what the outcome would be and worst of all, I didn’t have a backup plan! Oh well, live dangerously and make up something on the fly was what I thought, I haven’t been watching the Chopped TV food show for nothing. But from the comments I received, I can tell you that this one was a hit! My son with the gourmet tendencies (Dean) said that “this soup is ridiculously good!” and had two bowls!
Seriously, this soup is too easy and delicious not to try! Here’s my version of the original Crema de Garbanzos at My Colombian Recipes.
Creamy Chickpea soup (Colombian)
Ingredients
- 3 tablespoons of butter
- 1 small onion diced
- 3 scallions finely chopped
- 3 garlic cloves minced
- Salt and pepper to taste
- 1 teaspoon of ground cumin
- 1/2 pound dried chick peas garbanzos, soaked overnight
- 6 cups beef broth
- 1 cup heavy cream
- 1 cup low fat milk
- 1/2 cup chopped fresh cilantro
- dash of cayenne pepper
Instructions
- Soak the dried chickpeas overnight.
- Set your Instant Pot on Saute and add butter, onions, scallions, garlic, ground cumin, salt and pepper. Cook a few minutes until the onions are soft.
- Drain and rinse garbanzos, then add to the pot with the beef broth.
- Cancel the Saute program and switch to Pressure cooker, setting the timer to 15 minutes.
- Once the pot is depressurized, open the pot and check the flavor.
- Puree the soup in batches with a blender or food processor. I used a handblender and pureed the soup right in the pot. It took less time than using my regular blender.
- Once all of the chickpeas are pureed, return the soup to the pot.
- Add the heavy cream and milk, thinning the soup with water if it's too thick.
- If you like spicy, add cayenne pepper here.
- Serve the soup into bowls, garnished with cilantro and chickpeas if you saved some.
Try it and let me know below how you liked this soup!
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