Recipe for "chickpea-soup"

NAME

     CHICKPEA-SOUP - Greek style chick-pea soup
     I got this recipe from a Greek cookbook. It is the  standard
     way of cooking chick peas in Greece.

INGREDIENTS (serves 4)

     500 g     chick peas
     30 ml     baking soda
     3-4        small onions (chopped)
     180 ml    olive oil
     10 ml     salt
               lemon juice

PROCEDURE

          (1)  Soak the chick peas in water overnight.
          (2)  Drain the chick peas and sprinkle the baking  soda
               on them. Stir them a little and let them stand for
               one hour.
          (3)  Rinse the chick peas with  plenty  of  water.  Put
               them  in  a  pot  and cover them with water. Bring
               them to a boil, then lower heat to medium.
          (4)  Skim off the scum that forms on the  surface,  and
               then  add  the onions. Cover, and cook on low heat
               for about two hours or until the  chick  peas  are
               soft.   (If necessary, add some hot water into the
               pot while the chick peas are cooking).
          (5)  Add the olive oil and salt, and  cook  for  a  few
               more minutes.
          (6)  Serve with a dash of lemon juice, plenty of  fresh
               bread  and, if you like, a chunk of feta cheese on
               the side.

NOTES

     At step 3 you're supposed to remove the skin off  the  chick
     peas. I was never able to do it (it comes off only with some
     difficulty, and you have to do it for each individual  pea),
     but it doesn't seem to affect the dish adversely.
     You know that the soup is done when the chick peas begin  to
     dissolve,  making the soup rather thick. This might not give
     the dish a very attractive appearance, but the taste  is  an
     entirely different matter.

RATING

     Difficulty: easy.  Time: overnight soak, 2-3 hours  cooking.
     Precision: no need to measure.

CONTRIBUTOR

     Kriton Kyrimis
     Princeton University, Computer Science Dept., Princeton, New Jersey, USA
     princeton!kyrimis