Roughly chop the carrots, celery, onion and garlic. Place them in a food processor and pulse until finely minced. If you don't have a food processor, just try to chop them up as finely as you can.

Heat the oil in a pot over medium-low heat. Add the minced vegetables and thyme. Gently fry, stirring from time to time, until the vegetables are very soft - about 10 to 15 minutes. The idea is for the vegetables to flavor the soup and be almost undetectable.

Add the chickpeas, vegetable stock and water and raise to heat to bring it to a boil. Add the rice and reduce the heat to a simmer. Cover and cook until the rice is cooked - about 15 to 20 minutes.

Meanwhile, place the almond butter in a bowl and add a ladle of the hot soup broth. Stir to dissolve the almond butter.

When the rice is cooked, remove the pot from the heat and add the almond butter, lemon zest, salt and lemon juice. Lemon juice can quickly overpower the soup so I recommend starting with 1 teaspoon then tasting and adding more if you want to.