A delicious spin on tomato soup. This vegan tomato soup features ginger, scallions, and creamy coconut milk. Chickpeas add a boost of protein - both blended into the soup and as a crispy garnish on top.
Start Soup: Heat grapeseed oil in a large pot over medium heat. Add onion and cook until translucent, 3 to 5 minutes. Add the white sections of the scallions (reserve the green sections for garnish), garlic, and ginger. Cook, stirring frequently, until scallions are soft, about 3 minutes. Add tomatoes (and their juices), chickpeas (1 cup), paprika, bouillon cube, bay leaves, and salt. Stir to mix.
Simmer: Cover pot with the lid slightly ajar, and bring soup to a boil. Reduce heat to maintain a simmer. Cook for 30 minutes, stirring occasionally, to let the flavors develop.
Bake Chickpeas: Meanwhile, scatter chickpeas (2 cups) on a parchment lined baking sheet. Pat dry with a clean dish towel. Drizzle chickpeas with grapeseed oil and toss to coat. Sprinkle with paprika, cumin, garlic powder, onion powder, salt and pepper. Toss to coat. Bake until crispy, 25 to 30 minutes, shaking the pan half way. The chickpeas will continue to firm up as they cool.
Finish Soup: Stir coconut milk into soup. Bring to a simmer. Remove bay leaves. Transfer soup to a blender and process until smooth (depending your blender size, you may need to do this in batches). Taste and season, if needed (see note 4). Divide soup into bowls and top with the crispy chickpeas and reserved scallions.
Notes
Chickpeas: This recipe (1x) calls for 3 cups chickpeas total, from about two cans (15 oz/14 fl oz/398 ml each). You can substitute home-cooked beans instead of canned.
Bouillon: The bouillon cube adds extra flavor without the liquid. You can substitute bouillon concentrate instead of the cubes, just refer to the package instructions for the equivalent.
Coconut milk: For the best results use full-fat coconut milk. "Light" coconut milk is usually just a watered down version, for the same price. If you're set on using "light" coconut milk, you can buy a can of full-fat coconut milk, water it down yourself, and keep the extras for another use.
Thinning soup, if needed: Depending on how thick you like your soup, you may also wish to add a bit of water or vegetable stock to loosen.