Warming Chickpea Soup

I was looking at the variety of dried beans and grains sold at the Whole Foods the other day and one of them had a recipe for "Velvety Chickpea Soup", which looked nice. However, being the thrifty man I am, I decided to buy the chickpeas in bulk just from whole foods as it as about half the price. But since I'm also a somewhat absent-minded man, I did not write down the recipe. I had some dried chickpeas though and a yearning for some chickpea soup now though; so, I'd be damned if I wasn't getting some soup. So I winged it with a variety of spices and it turned out very well in my opinion. (Sorry for the lame name though, I'm not terribly creative at the moment.)

Warming Chickpea Soup

1.5 cups dried chickpeas
5 cups water

6-8 cups vegetable broth

2 tablespoons olive oil
1 large onion, cut into crescents
1 inch cube of ginger, minced
6 cloves garlic, minced
2 teaspoons ground coriander
1.5 teaspoons garam masala
1/2 teaspoons ground cumin

1/2 teaspoons ground cayenne
1/2 teaspoons spanish paprika
Juice of 1/2 large lemon

A bunch of sweet carrots, with their greens.

The night before, put the chickpeas in a pot with the water, cover, and let sit at least eight hours. They should just about double in size. Drain and put into a pot again with water with a teaspoon of baking soda added and let them sit for a half hour. That step is optional but helps clean them. Drain and rinse afterwards.

Put the onion in a large soup pot with the oil and fry until soft and getting translucent. Add in the coriander, garam masala, cumin, garlic, and ginger and fry until fragrant(around 30-60 seconds). Add in the vegetable broth and the chickpeas and let them cook for three hours, stirring occasionally. Once the chickpeas are soft, stir in the cayenne, paprika, and lemon juice. Put this mixture in the food processor and puree until it is smooth. Cook for another ten minutes and serve hot.

Shred the carrots and add a generous portion of them as a garnish along with some of their chopped greens.

Notes about the soup are:
1) This is very hearty and filling, so don't let it deceive you when it comes to the amount to dish out for a meal.
2) You can basically change any amounts of the spices in the recipe, since I winged just about everything.
3) I just had carrots sitting around but you could garnish it with whatever you want. I think the carrots add a nice crunch and sweetness to the dish.
4) I think if you added in some olive oil(a few tablespoons) into the soup when you add the cayenne it would help make the soup richer. It's not uncommon to do so with chickpea soup so it's probably a good idea.