Chunky Chickpea & Herb Dumpling Soup

In our family we have 5 birthdays in the month of February to celebrate. It can become a bit stressful to remember who's birthday's when so we've developed "Soup Sunday" as a way of bringing the whole fan damily together to celebrate all five birthdays on the same day. Every family brings a crockpot with a large quantity of soup, chowder, stew or chili to share. It's alot of fun to taste test each soup! Somehow we always have bread or rolls and of course one homemade birthday cake with all five names in icing on top.This year I wanted to try a new soup. Actually our 11 year old chose this recipe out of The Complete Vegetarian Cookbook that I had checked out of the library. Looks can be deceiving with this recipe. It looks plain or bland but with cumin, coriander & chili pepper the broth is scrumptious. My family all had seconds!

Chunky Chickpea And Herb Dumpling Soup

1 Tablespoon oil ( I used olive)
1 onion chopped
2 cloves garlic, crushed (I used minced from a jar)
2 teaspoons cumin
1 teaspoon ground coriander
1/4 teaspoon chili powder
2 15 oz. cans chickpeas
2 15 oz. cans chopped tomatoes
3 1/2 cups vegetable stock ( I used 2 Knorr vegetable boullion cubes & 4 cups water)
Heat the oil in a large saucepan and cook the onion over medium heat for 2 - 3 minutes or until soft. Add the garlic, cumin, ground coriander and chili and cook for 1 minute or until fragrant. Add the chickpeas, stock and tomatoes. Bring to a boil, then reduce the heat and simmer, covered, for 10 minutes.

Dumplings

1 cup flour
2 Tablespoons butter
2 Tablespoons grated Parmesan cheese
2 Tablespoons mixed chopped fresh herbs ( I used chives and parsley I had on my windowsill)
3 Tablespoons milk

To make the dumplings, sift the flour into a bowl and add the chopped butter. Rub together with your fingertips until the mixture resembles fine breadcrumbs. Stir in the cheese and herbs. Make a well in the center , add the milk and mix with a flat bladed knife until just combined. Bring together into a rough ball, dived into eight portions and roll into small balls. Add the dumplings to the soup cover and simmer for 20 minutes.
After I took the above picture we sprinkled Sargento Bistro Italian Pasta Cheese on top. Wow! This was good. I doubled this recipe for "Soup Sunday" because we had 16 people together and I wanted enough for everyone to try.

We gave it a unanimous 4 spoon rating!

Happy Birthday Seth, Uncle Phil, Dad, Chelbie & Aunt Lynn!

Blessings,

Teresa