Can I thicken a soup with pureed chickpeas?

Question

I've recentlyy made a drastic change in my diet (due to high cholesterol) and I'm struggling to follow my nutritionist's orders that I eat 1/2 beans a day. If only I liked beans. So after two weeks of hating almost everything I've made (including bean soup, bean pizza, bean salsa, and others from on-line as well as canned bean soups), I've decided to try to create some of my own bean friendly recipes. Today I'm trying to take my favorite potato soup recipe and make it heart healthy. To do this I was thinking I could replace the butter, milk, flour roux with pureed chickpeas and 1% milk. Are there any cooking experts out there that can tell me if they think this will work or if they have any general bean recipe suggestions? Thanks!

Answer 1

I was a  chef for almost 15 years, I think it might work whats the harm to try it, your going to hate it any way so give it a go. I `d be curious to know haw it turns out

Answer 2

Yes, it will work. In India, they make Chickpea soup called Cholay. Quarter of the chickpeas are mashed and put back in to give the soup a thick body.

The chickpea flour is called Besan Besan is routinely used as a thickener in place of flour.  

Answer 3

Certainly.  Pureed chickpeas would work nicely to thicken a soup, and add fiber and protein, too.

Answer 4

Try Indian or Middle Eastern food. They have a lot of recipes with chickpeas (like Humus). Indian food is spicy, so I hope that you like it hot.

Answer 5

No, you cannot. The heavy parts of the puree will just sit on the bottom of the pot. Use chickpea flour - that'll do the trick.  

Answer 6

I went through this with my dad and although he likes beans - he hated them after a while.

I used a grinder and fine ground the amount of beans I needed and just added them to the other things I was making. They didn't change the taste much.

If this is a fiber issue like it was with dad - beans are not the only source of fiber. Whole wheat, cerials, oatmeal etc...

It's hard to believe your doctor wants you to eat so many beans when there are other things just as good.

Answer 7

well the only way to tell is to try, the only thing that may prove trying, is the skins in the chickpeas......they may be a pain to remove from your puree..... sounds great though....

Answer 8

It is best to remove the skins before you puree the chick peas.  After they are boiled (or straight from the can) rub them a few at a time in a soft kitchen towel or with your hands.  The peas pop right out of the skin.

It will thinken the soup but chickpeas have a stronger flavor than say great Northern or navy beans so I would try those first.

DO you like peas?  Peas are also "beans"

And beans are a good source of soluble fiber but if you don't like them ask your nutritionist about appropriate substitutes.