Spanish-ish Chickpea, Potato & Cauliflower Rice Soup with Saffron, Smoked Paprika & Salsa Brava for Souper (Soup, Salad & Sammie) Sundays

I fully expected to be at the least without power and at most without a roof or bailing out all kinds of water from my house this weekend with Hurricane Lane looming over us. We got lucky here on Oahu, at least and the storm both weakened and was downgraded and made a sudden turn away from us. It was a pretty scary few days though. Although I've lived here since 2001, this is probably the most worrisome storm watch I have experienced. Unfortunately, although Oahu came through pretty unscathed, Maui and especially the Big Island were not so lucky and took the hit, with the Big Island getting over 4-feet on rain in some spots. Lots of flood and wind damage, so please send your thoughts and prayers to those impacted.

I didn't really plan a soup, but I was craving something with a Spanish vibe since my friend Monina brought me back saffron and a bottle of tomato salsa brava from a recent trip. She mentioned the salsa was often used for potatoes there and so I decided to make them the base, adding chickpeas a few veggies, garlic, the saffron, and plenty of smoked paprika and cumin to my soup. Since I loved my addition of cauliflower rice to this Red Curry Vegetable and Cauliflower Rice Soup, I added some to this soup and added the remainder of a jar of pimentos I had in the fridge. I saved the salsa brava to drizzle on top.

Spanish-ish Chickpea, Potato & Cauliflower Rice Soup with Saffron, Smoked Paprika & Salsa
By Deb, Kahakai Kitchen
(Serves 6)

2 Tbsp olive oil
1 large yellow onion, chopped
2 medium carrots, chopped
2 celery stalks, chopped
3 cloves garlic, minced
2 tsp smoked paprika
1 tsp ground cumin
2 tsp dried parsley
4 to 5 sprigs of fresh thyme
6 cups broth (I used no-salt no-chicken vegan bouillon)
2 large potatoes, chopped
2 cans or 4 cups of cooked chickpeas
3 cups frozen cauliflower rice
2 Tbsp pimentos, drained 
sea salt and freshly ground pepper to taste
salsa brava (optional)
  
Heat the olive oil in a large soup pot over medium heat.Add the onion, carrot and celery and saute for about 6 to 7 minutes, until veggies are softened. Add the garlic and saute for another minute, then add the smoked paprika, cumin, dried parsley and thyme sprigs and cook until fragrant.

Add the broth, potatoes, chickpeas, cauliflower rice and pimentos and bring to a boil. Reduce heat and simmer for about 20 minutes--until potatoes and veggies are tender but not mushy. Remove the thyme sprigs, pulling off any remaining leaves. Season to taste with sea salt and freshly ground pepper.

Serve in bowls, drizzled with salsa brava if desired.

Notes/Results: I loved this soup--so much great flavor on its own with the saffron, garlic, smoked paprika and cumin, and it's even better with the salsa brava stirred in as the spicy pepper and vinegar in it and depth and a little kick. Filling without being heavy, this soup will be delicious in my lunches this week. I will happily make it again. 

Lets take a look into the Souper Sundays kitchen and see who is here.

 
Judy of Gluten Free A-Z Blog brought Instant Pot or Not Chilled Zucchini Corn Lime Soup and said, "Corn and zucchini are at their peak right now, and the duo are sensational in this light summer soup which can be eaten chilled or warm. Although this soup can be enjoyed warm or chilled, chilled seems to be my preference. I usually serve it warm for dinner and cold for lunch the next day. Either way it doesn't disappoint- The key ingredients for me is the fresh lime and crunchy sweet corn that I add to each soup bowl!"
 

Tina of Squirrel Head Manor shared her Chicken and Heavily Dijoned Sandwich and said, "I brought a chicken sandwich with lots of tomatoes and Dijon mustard. Typically I don't eat a sandwich for dinner but I was "inspired" by the last Frieda Klein novel when I read about this sandwich. It just made me want one. You know how that is - cravings. ... I like the Maille brand of Dijon, it has just the right amount spiciness."

 
Mahalo to Judee and Tina for joining in this week!
 
About Souper Sundays:

Souper Sundays (going since 2008) now has a format of a picture link each week where anyone interested can post their soups, salads, or sandwiches at any time during the week and I post a recap of the entries the following week.

(If you aren't familiar with Souper Sundays, you can read about of the origins of it here. 

If you would like to join in Souper (Soup, Salad, and Sammie) Sundays, I would love to have you! Here's how...

To join in this week's Souper Sunday's linkup with your soup, salad or sandwich:

• Link up your soup (stew, chili, soupy curries, etc. are fine), salad, or sandwich dish, (preferably one from the current week or month--but we'll take older posts too) on the picture link below and leave a comment on this post so I am sure not to miss you. Also please see below for what to do on your blog post that you link up her in order to be included in the weekly round-up.

and 

On your entry post (on your blog):

• Mention Souper (Soup, Salad & Sammies) Sundays at Kahakai Kitchen and link back to this post. (Not to be a pain but it's polite and only fair to link back to events you link up at--so if you link a post up here without linking back to it on your post, it will be removed.)
• You are welcome to add the Souper Sundays logo to your post and/or blog (optional).

An InLinkz Link-up

Have a happy, healthy week!