Heat olive oil in a frying pan and sauté the diced onion until it’s soft and starting to brown lightly, about 5 minutes.
Add minced garlic, smoked paprika, sweet paprika, dried thyme, and fresh ground black pepper and sauté 2-3 minutes more, or until spices are fragrant.
Add onion-spice mixture to CrockPot, then rinse out the frying pan with 1 cup of the vegetable stock and add to CrockPot along with red lentils, rinsed chickpeas, and the rest of the vegetable stock.
Cook on high for 2-3 hours, or until lentils are starting to soften and dissolve into the soup.
When lentils are starting to soften, add the 2 cans of petite diced tomatoes with juice. Cook for about 2 hours more on high, or until the lentils and chickpeas are both quite soft.
Then remove about 1/2 the soup to a bowl (or the large 8-cup measuring cup). Puree the soup you removed using an immersion blender, food processor, or blender.
Stir the pureed soup back into the soup in the CrockPot; taste and add more salt or fresh ground black pepper if desired. Let soup cook about 15 minutes more, then serve hot.
