Name: Instant Pot Middle Eastern Chickpea and Spinach Soup
Yield: 6
Cuisine: Middle Eastern
Ingredients: 1 tin chickpeas, drained; 1 litre vegetable stock; 150g dried apricots; 2 cloves garlic, crushed; 1.5 tsp ground cinnamon; 1 tsp each chilli powder, ground cumin & ground coriander; 2 tbsp tomato puree; 1 lemon - zest & juice; 200 g spinach, fresh or frozen

It’s soup. It’s utterly delicious, recipe-requesting soup. And it’s vegan. Need I say more? Just cook up this bad boy and take the compliments;)

This Instant Pot Middle Eastern Chickpea and Spinach Soup is another classic, originally sourced from the New Covent Garden Soup Company’s Book of Soups: New, Old and Odd Recipes, but simplified and adapted for pressure cooking. It’s quick, easy. low-fat, tasty and filling. And as if that’s not enough. absolutely no meat or dairy, a total crowd-pleaser.

If you don’t have an Instant Pot or other pressure cooker, it’s also simple to make on the stove. Simply follow the same method but use more stock, 1.5L, and simmer for 20min before stirring in the spinach.

For other quick and simple soups try my Instant Pot Broccoli and Stilton Soup. Or if you also need to keep it vegan, go for this Instant Pot Lentil and Lemon Soup or this improbably pleasing Instant Pot Celery and Cashewnut Soup.

Instant Pot Middle Eastern Chickpea and Spinach Soup

CourseLunch, Main Dish
CuisineMiddle Eastern

Servings

Instant Pot Middle Eastern Chickpea and Spinach Soup

CourseLunch, Main Dish
CuisineMiddle Eastern

Servings

Ingredients

1 tin chickpeas, drained
1 litre vegetable stock
150g dried apricots
2 cloves garlic, crushed
1.5 tsp ground cinnamon
1 tsp each chilli powder, ground cumin & ground coriander
2 tbsp tomato puree
1 lemon - zest & juice
200 g spinach, fresh or frozen

Servings:

Instructions

Put all ingredients, except the spinach, into the Instant Pot.
Set the valve to "sealing" and manual cook on High Pressure for 5 minutes.
When the Instant Pot beeps to say it's done either open the valve for Quick Pressure Release if you want to proceed immediately or leave the pressure to release naturally if you want to finish the soup later.
Stir in the spinach and leave to wilt in the residual heat for a couple of minutes.
Blend the soup with a hand blender or liquidiser.
If you're feeling fancy, serve with a swirl of yoghurt (vegan or regular plain yoghurt.)

Recipe Notes

If you want to make this on the hob then follow the same method but simmer for 20 minutes in a saucepan and use 1.5L stock.

This is adapted from the fabulous Nigella Lawson’s book Simply Nigella. I find you can’t go too far wrong with Nigella and I cook a lot of her recipes. In the original recipe this uses the slow-cooker method but I’ve adapted it for pressure cooking using my Instant Pot. This recipe is then not only absolutely delicious but speedy too.

Don’t worry if there seems to be too much liquid when you first serve the stew. I find this quickly thickens as the stew cools down while eating. Any leftovers can be frozen or liquidized to make a delicious, hearty soup.

Although it seems a pain to cook the chicken on the bone then have to shred it at the end, this really deepens the flavour of the stew and helps to thicken it.

I’ve of course made some tweaks to the ingredients list as well as the method, replacing golden sultanas with the more easily acquired dried apricots and omitting the saffron as, unless it’s making a massive impact, I find it too expensive and too much of a faff. Also, I like to have a one-pot dish as much as possible so I stir in some baby leaf spinach at the end. Thus not only is it hitting some pretty good nutiritional notes, it’s also low-carb, gluten-free and dairy-free. Given that it’s delicious and easy – seriously, what’s not to love?!!

Moroccan Chicken Stew

Servings

6 people

Servings

6 people

Moroccan Chicken Stew

Servings

6 people

Servings

6 people

Ingredients

Stew ingredients

8 whole chicken thighs
1 onion peeled and chopped
3 preserved lemons chopped
2 400g tin chickpeas
2 tsp cumin seeds
1 tsp ground ginger
1 cinnamon stick
500 ml chicken stock
12 dried apricots chopped
70 g pitted green olives

To stir in at end of cooking

240 g baby spinach

To serve

1 bunch chopped fresh coriander to serve

Servings: people

Instructions

Put all of the ingredients, except the spinach and coriander, into the Instant Pot. Make sure the vent is set to sealing and set the Instant Pot to 15 minutes manual pressure cooking.
When it is finished allow the pressure to release naturally then open the Instant Pot.
When the chicken is cool enough to handle, dispose of the bones and skin and return the chicken meat to the pot and stir in the spinach.
Set the Instant Pot to sauté, then reheat the stew while the spinach cooks down.
Serve with a generous sprinkling of coriander.

Recipe Notes

If cooking in a slower cooker follow the same method but cook on low for four hours.

If cooking in the oven place ingredients in a large casserole dish and cook in a preheated oven (180°C) for 1 hour or until the chicken is tender and falling off the bone.

This is fabulous as is, but if you feel it needs something more you could serve with couscous sprinkled with toasted almonds and pomegranate seeds