Soup · Tunisia · Tunis

Leblebi Soup 🫘

Name: Leblebi Soup
Prep time: 36 min
Cook time: 54 min
Total time: 90 min
Yield: 2-4 servings
Cuisine: Tunisian
Ingredients: 250 g chickpeas, soaked overnight; 2 tbsp olive oil; 1 onion, finely diced; 1.5 L vegetable stock; 1 tsp cumin seeds; 5 garlic cloves; 1/2 tsp salt (+ to taste); 1 tsp harissa (more to taste); 1 lime, juiced + wedges to serve; Black pepper; optional: olive oil; canned tuna to top

Leblebi is Tunisian street-supper comfort: chickpeas soaked overnight, then simmered into a deep-orange soup perfumed with toasted ground cumin and sharpened with harissa and lemon. It is cheap, vegan and filling — sold from carts as a winter evening snack with a sprinkling of tuna, a drizzle of olive oil and a wedge of lime on the side. The mortar-and-pestle paste of garlic and cumin is what gives it its low, smoky depth.

Tunis Governorate Tunisian ⏱ 90 min Easy

Method

1

Warm the oil in a large pot and cook the onion until translucent.
2

Add the drained chickpeas and the vegetable stock; bring to the boil, then cover and simmer 30 minutes.
3

Dry-toast the cumin in a small pan until fragrant, then grind to a powder in a mortar; pound in the garlic and salt to a paste.
4

Stir the paste and harissa into the soup and simmer until the chickpeas are completely tender, about 30 minutes more.
5

Finish with lime juice and pepper; season again. Serve hot, some bowls left chunky, some partly mashed for body — topped with tuna and a slick of oil if you like.

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Leblebi Soup 🫘

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