Recipe - Egyptian Chickpea And Orzo Soup

6 cup Chicken broth OR vegetable
broth
2 cup Water
6 Garlic cloves; thinly cut or sliced up
One half Onion; chopped
1 One half cup Cooked chickpeas; drained
1 teaspoon Finely chopped parsley;
optional
Salt and pepper; to taste
6 ounce Orzo OR other small soup
pasta
2 Lemons; cut into wedges

Combine the broth, water, garlic and onion in a saucepan. Bring to a boil,
then simmer over medium heat for about 10 minutes, or until the onion
softens.

Add the chickpeas and continue to cook for 15 minutes or so, until the
chickpeas are very soft and tender, the soup wellflavored, the garlic and
onions soft. Season with salt and pepper. Stir in the parsley.

Meanwhile, cook the orzo or other pasta in rapidly boiling salted water
until tender; drain.

Serve the soup in bowls, ladled over the orzo, each bowl with a wedge or
two of lemon to squirt in, then leave to impart its lemony flavor from the
rind. Serves 4.

PER SERVING: 305 calories, 16 g protein, 54 g carbohydrate, 3 g fat (0 g
saturated), 2 mg cholesterol, 6 mg sodium, 4 g fiber.

Excerpt from SF Chronicle 05/06/98 Food Section see www.sfgate.com ; Busted
by HANNEMAN

Notes: "If you have no orzo, use spaghetti broken into short lengths before
cooking. And if you have any of the ends you've snapped off asparagus, this
is a good place to use them. Jut cut them into thin rounds and add to the
soup about 5 minutes before serving. They are delicious with the
chickpeas."

Recipe by: Marlena Spieler, San Francisco Chronicle (1998)

Posted to MCRecipe Digest by Kitpath phannema@wizard.ucr.edu on May 07,
1998