Leblabi by Candlelight!

Moncef drove home at the speed of light knowing that there would be Leblabi tonight! But, when we arrived in the vicinity of our house we found that our area was in the middle of an electrical cut, even if this does happen quite often still it is always a surprise when it happens. Since I promised my spoon that I would make his fav soup, Leblabi , so therefore I had no other choice but to dare it by candlelight. Basically, Leblabi is a Tunisian style chick-pea/garbanzo bean soup that includes harissa, which is a kind of hot red chili paste. I was lucky I had purchased from the local market on our last trip to Tunisia a kilo of harissa which stays in the fridge forever. Most supermarkets sell some form of chili paste, but if you want to attempt making it from scratch there is a good recipe on: http://www.gourmetsleuth.com/harissa.htm . Except for making the harissa, traditional Leblabi soup is fairly simple, but spicy. I like to put my own taste twist on, not so much harissa but more spices and I like using rosemary, and fresh coriander leaves and white wine. I also prefer roasted garlic, now harissa itself has plenty but since we are garlic freaks here I also add it to my soup mix. I also sometimes like to use the vegetables that I used to make the broth, but normally the only vegetable in Leblabi is the garbanzo beans.
Ok here it goes Leblabi by candlelight (about 2-4 servings):
2 cups Chickpeas, soaked overnight (or can with liquid)
Harissa according to taste (red hot pepper paste can be used, if you do- check the ingredients and add any of the following ingredients to the paste if it is not already included: coriander and caraway seeds, olive oil, garlic)
4 cups of vegetable broth (carrots, onions, tomatoes, etc.)
1/2 cup of white wine (or more - you decide)
Cumin to taste (1 tblsn)
Coriander leaves to taste
Rosemary to taste
Roasted Garlic to taste and chopped (wrap whole cloves in tinfoil and stick in oven/broiler for a bit until golden but not burnt,)
2 tablespoons of olive oil
1 lemon
salt and pepper


To prepare:
In a large pot, cook the soaked chickpeas (discard water) in vegetable broth (2xs amount) . When they are soft, add the harissa, garlic, wine and spices, (vegetables if you decide to use them) for around another 10 minutes. Remove from stove. Sprinkle with olive oil and lemon juice. Served with left-over crispy bread, and some olive paste, cucumbers and brie that I found in the "tomb" (Moncef's name for my fridge because I tend to save little bits of this and that and they got lost in the back). It was all really soothing on a cold and dark winter night. I also grabbed what ever wine was in reach which was a rose and it went just perfectly with my soup!
All this is just a PRELUDE TO THE NIGHT TO COME! :)