Chickpea stew with chapos

I have been trying to move towards a less meaty menu in my home. A very tough thing to do when your husband likes to eat meat. When he sees a starch and greens he always asks “where is the meat?!”

served
served

So to avoid that question I’ve been serving a lot of beans and green grams, he never expects to see meat served with them and he likes them. But I’ve gotten tired of them (-_-) We’ve been having them each week for a while now. It’s nice because they’re quick to make once you have a couple of pre-cooked batches in the freezer. But enough is enough! I’m surprised he hasn’t said anything, he usually gets tired of things much faster than me.

The good news is there are other edible legumes out there! Thank God! So to switch things up, I tried chickpeas (^_^)   I thought I had made them before but I searched and didn’t find a post. I guess I had them somewhere. I looked at several recipes online and picked on a few addition for this recipe; one was the use of turmeric, and the other the addition of lemon juice at the end for some zing! Chickpeas also have to be pre-cooked, I used a pressure cooker to speed things along.

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first, precook the chickpeas, they get pretty big when they’re done (is it just me or does the cooked one on the bottom left look like a tiny little dressed chicken?!)
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then started with one chopped onion, four cloves of garlic chopped, a little bit of ginger and a couple of bay leaves
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all in the pot with some olive oil on low heat, till the onions soften
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add 4 cups of chickpeas and a cup of water
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add two heaped teaspoons of cardamon powder, half a teaspoon of turmeric and cayenne pepper to taste

You could use red pepper flakes of freshly cut chilli peppers of your choice as well. Add the heat the way you like it. I know lots of people prefer to chew into little bits of chilli!

add three tablespoon of home made tomato paste, stir
add 3 tablespoons of home made tomato paste, stir

If you are using canned tomato paste, start with two teaspoons, then add slowly of you think you need more. It may be more concentrated. But if you’d like to try and make some at home, here is the recipe I use: It’s very simple (^_^)

Once it has simmered for about  5 minutes, turn of the heat and add the juice of one lemon. Stir it in and you're done!
Once it has simmered for about 5 minutes, turn of the heat and add the juice of one lemon. Stir it in and you’re done!
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yum!

Husband Rating: ★★★★★★★★½☆

How do you like your chickpeas?

About aika

Making, eating and sharing good food are a splendid way to start, brake and end a day! I post good eats on www.pendolamama.co.ke. Life is a feast, eat up!

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