Warm up your home and your family with a hot bowl full of healthy vegetables and hearty shredded chicken. Spiced with cumin, curry, and paprika, the onions, celery, and carrots are simmered along with shredded chicken, chickpeas and chopped zucchini. This Moroccan soup reheats beautifully, and I like to serve alongside rice, quinoa or couscous.
This recipe is highly customizable, so you should feel free to use the vegetables your family likes, or what you have on hand.
Ingredients
2 tablespoons olive oil (I like California Olive Ranch evoo)
1 large yellow onion, diced
2 carrots, cleaned and sliced into coins.
2 celery stalks, diced
6 garlic cloves, minced
2 tablespoons dry sherry
1/2 teaspoon curry powder
1/4 teaspoon ground turmeric
1/2 teaspoon ground cumin
1/2 teaspoon ground oregano
1/4 teaspoon cayenne pepper
1 14.5 ounces fire roasted diced tomatoes
1 14.5 ounces chickpeas
4 cups chicken stock (Better than Bouillon paste mixed with water or homemade)
1 rotisserie chicken
2 zucchini, diced
Heat 2 tablespoons olive oil in a large Dutch oven over medium-high heat and add onion, celery, and carrots, often stirring, until soft. Add additional olive oil or butter should the veggies look too dry.
Add garlic and stir for a minute until fragrant, then pour in 2 tablespoons of dry sherry to deglaze the Dutch oven, scraping the bottom with a wooden spoon to loosen any stuck bits.
Sprinkle the curry powder, turmeric, cumin, oregano, and cayenne over the softened veggies. Add fire roasted diced tomatoes, chickpeas and 4 cups chicken stock and stir to combine. Bring the temperature up to high and when the soup begins to boil, turn the heat down to a low simmer for 10 minutes.
Pick meat off the rotisserie chicken and shred with your fingers or two forks, add to soup.
Slice zucchini in half lengthwise and then diced in half crosswise to make about 2 cups of half moon cuts, add to soup.
Taste for seasoning and add salt and pepper as needed, or more chicken stock if the soup needs it in your opinion.
By now the flavors are married and have permeated the veggies. Ladle into bowls and serve with Naan bread or pita bread.
This Moroccan soup could easily be vegetarian by omitting the chicken and using vegetable stock instead. Butternut squash or potato would be superb cubed in this soup. Try green beans or lintels. Make it your own, and enjoy!