Vegan Broccoli Kale Soup with Crispy Chickpeas

It’s hard for me to think of another food that is as comforting and heart-mending as soup.

Soup certainly doesn’t heal all wounds, but is sure does help. At least for me. When my heart is heavy, when I’m sick, or when the world seems like an overwhelming place, I crave a warm bowl of soup. It’s a craving, a longing, that I can feel deep in my bones. So deep and so embedded that I can trace it back to childhood.

As a kid, all I ever wanted to eat was soup. It was an obsession. My grandmother even nicknamed me Little Soup Girl, and 90 percent of my childhood photos include me sitting at her gingham-clothed table with a bowl of soup in front of me, over-sized spoon in my hand, and smile on my face.

Soup was comforting to me, even then. A silent, savory symbol that someone took the love and care to fix me a meal. A sign that I was loved, and cared for. And home.

I suppose, more than anything, that’s why it’s still so comforting to me now.

Ingredients:

For the Soup

• 2 tablespoons olive oil
• 3 cloves garlic, minced
• 2 large shallots, diced
• 4 celery stalks, diced
• 1 leek, diced (white and light green parts only)
• 8 cups vegetable broth
• 2 large broccoli heads, chopped
• 1 large zucchini, chopped
• 3 cups chopped kale
• 2 cups chopped spinach
• 1/2 cup tahini
• 1 tablespoon grated fresh ginger
• 1/4 cup parsley, finely chopped
• Sea salt and pepper, to taste

• 1 can chickpeas, rinsed and drained/dried very well
• 1 tablespoon olive oil
• 1/4 teaspoon cumin
• 1/4 teaspoon paprika
• 1/4 teaspoon ginger
• Pinch of cayenne
• Sea salt and pepper, to taste