Chickpea soup w/ herb dumplings!

This was such a perfect rainy day soup -- chunky and savory, and the dumplings were sublime! This recipe will serve two people well with lots of leftovers, or probably four people (two dumplings each) with no leftovers.

Cost per serving: $2

Ingredients & Supplies:

Soup

1 tbsp. Olive oil
1 red onion
2 cans chickpeas (garbanzo beans)
2 cans chopped tomatoes
2 tsp. ground cumin
1 tsp. ground coriander
1/4 tsp. cayenne pepper or chili powder
3 cloves garlic
3 cups vegetable or chicken stock

Dumplings

1 tbsp. chopped fresh cilantro
1 cup self-rising flour or 1 cup all-purpose flour + 1 1/2 tsp. baking powder + 1/2 tsp. salt
2 tbsp. butter
2 tbsp. Parmesan
2 tbsp. chopped fresh herbs -- parsley, cilantro, chives
1/4 cup milk

Soup pot
Mixing bowl
Knife

Soundtrack:

Rolling Stones
Fleet Foxes

Heat the oil in a wok or soup pot and add the chopped onion. You can use any kind of onion for this, but I just love the taste (and smell!) of a red onion. Cook for about 5 minutes, until the onion begins to soften. Add to this the garlic, cumin, ground coriander, and chili powder or cayenne pepper (I used the cayenne pepper), cook for another minute.

If you're using a wok, transfer everything now to a soup pot. Add the chickpeas, vegetable or chicken stock, and canned tomatoes. Bring this to a boil, then reduce the heat and cover. Allow it to simmer while you make the dumplings...

Put the flour in a mixing bowl, and if you're using all-purpose flour add the baking powder and salt. Chop the cold butter into smaller pieces, and mix into the flour with your hands until its thoroughly mixed and slightly crumbly. Add the herbs, and mix. Make a well in the center of this mixture, pour the milk in, and mix until just combined.

Roll this mixture into one large ball. Divide this further into eight portions. Roll each portion into little balls, and drop them one by one into the soup. Cover, and let simmer for another 20 minutes or so, until the dumplings are cooked all the way through. Okay, use this time to make a side salad, or to drink wine, or to dance around the kitchen...