Pumpkin soup with crispy chickpeas and yogurt

Why it is filling

A blended vegetable soup has a lot of water and volume for very few calories, and you eat it slowly, by the spoonful. On its own it has little protein; the chickpeas and Greek yogurt on top fix that and add fiber and texture. It is a warm, mild dish that usually sits well when you have nausea, although chickpeas can give some people gas.

In numbers, each serving has 9.3 g of protein and 6.7 g of fiber, with an energy density of 70 kcal per 100 g of the dish. In the satiety index by Holt and colleagues (1995), the foods that were most filling per calorie were those with more protein, fiber, and water and less fat.

High in fiber

At least 5 g of fiber per serving, a fifth of EFSA’s 25 g daily reference.

Low energy density

100 kcal or less per 100 g of the dish: plenty of volume for few calories.

May cause bloating

It has at least 30 g per serving of beans, cruciferous vegetables, or other ingredients that give some people gas.

If your appetite is small

• Freeze the soup without the yogurt or chickpeas, in single portions; the chickpeas crisp up in 5 minutes when you serve it.
• If chickpeas don’t agree with you, swap them for cubes of cooked chicken or a chopped hard-boiled egg.