It might be a pale legume with a dry, crumbly nature, yet the chickpea is a culinary force to be reckoned with. Dried and ground, it makes a mean pancake; boiled and crushed with tahini and garlic, a paste that can divide and conquer; and slow‑cooked, the kind of stew you want to climb into and sleep in, it’s that comforting.
The winning recipe: Braised chickpeas and chorizo with tomatoes
Of all the spices chickpeas can accommodate, it is smoked paprika that best enhances their creaminess. MarmadukeScarlet’s stew here is deep scarlet in hue and quite maddeningly savoury. For my money, this is how you want your chickpeas – almost melting, but with a very satisfying bite, in a rich, red liquor that seems to only get better with age.
Serves 4
1 red onion, finely chopped
1 tbsp olive oil
150g chorizo, roughly chopped
2 garlic cloves, finely chopped
2 tsp smoked paprika
400g tin plum tomatoes, roughly chopped
400g tin chickpeas, drained and rinsed
300ml vegetable or chicken stock
A splash of red wine
1 bay leaf
2 sprigs of fresh thyme
Salt and black pepper
Fresh parsley, chopped, to serve
1 In a large, heavy-based, lidded saucepan, gently fry the onions in the oil until just soft – about 10 minutes.
2 Add the chorizo and garlic. Continue to fry gently. The chorizo should start to exude some of its paprika spice and the oil will start to change to a rust colour.
3 Add the smoked paprika and give the mixture a quick stir. Cook for 1 minute.
4 Add the tomatoes and chickpeas. Stir to coat and cook for 1 minute before adding the stock and red wine. Bring to the boil, and then reduce to a simmer before adding the bay leaf and fresh thyme. Simmer for about 20 minutes. You may need to add more stock, although if it looks as if the stew is too liquid, you may need to boil some of this off.
5 Season to taste and sprinkle with parsley before serving.
Salmon and harissa chickpeas
Justine Wall’s quickfire combo is unexpected and delicious. Salmon and chickpeas are well matched in their mildness, the first bringing richness to the second’s drier crunch, while the fruity, spicy harissa and fresh herbs make it all sing. An addition of peppery greens, as Justine suggests, would not go amiss.
Serves 4
2 tbsp olive oil
1 red onion, finely chopped
1 garlic clove, finely chopped
1 tbsp harissa paste
1 tbsp tahini
1 jalapeno (or similar mild) chilli, deseeded and chopped
1 red pepper, finely chopped
250g salmon fillets
400g tin chickpeas, drained and rinsed
Juice of 1 lemon
1cm piece fresh ginger, peeled, grated
About 5g chopped coriander
About 5g chopped parsley
Salt and black pepper
1 In a large nonstick frying pan, heat the oil, and saute the onion and garlic for 5 minutes or so.
2 Add the harissa paste, tahini, chilli and red pepper and fry for a further 5 minutes.
3 Add the salmon fillets, whole, to the pan, and fry for 5 minutes on each side. After 10 minutes, break up the salmon gently with a wooden spoon or a fork.
4 Add the chickpeas to the pan, fry for a minute or so, and gently give the contents a stir to coat everything well. Ensure that the pieces of salmon are cooked through, and add the lemon juice, ginger and fresh herbs. Season and mix well. Spoon into bowls and serve immediately.
Hummus with crispy spiced lamb
Catherine Tennant’s hummus recipe, and the things she pairs it with – spices, lamb, pomegranate, pine nuts and mint – make a fairly standard Middle Eastern plateful. But when basic standards of flavour are this high, there’s little reason to mess with them.
Serves 4-6
For the hummus
400g tin of chickpeas
2 heaped tbsp tahini
Juice of 1 small lemon
1 tsp ground cumin
1 small garlic clove, crushed
A pinch of salt
For the crispy lamb
1 onion, finely chopped
Olive oil
1 tsp ground cumin
1 tsp ground coriander
½ tsp ground cinnamon
¼ tsp ground allspice
A pinch of cayenne pepper/chilli flakes
500g minced lamb
Salt, pepper and lemon juice, to taste
Chopped mint or parsley, toasted pine nuts and pomegranate seeds, to garnish
1 For the hummus: whizz the chickpeas with about half of their brine in a food processor with all the other ingredients until smooth and creamy. Loosen with a splash of water if too thick. Add more lemon juice, cumin, tahini or salt to taste.
2 In a large nonstick frying pan, fry the onion in a glug of olive oil until softened – about 10 minutes. Add all the spices and fry for another minute. Add the lamb, breaking it up with a spoon. Fry until the underside of the lamb has formed a crust – don’t stir it – then flip it over, breaking up the clumps and fry until the lamb is dark brown and crispy all over. Season with salt, pepper and a squeeze of lemon.
3 Spread the hummus on a large plate, pile on the crispy lamb, scatter over the pine nuts, pomegranate seeds and chopped herbs and serve with pittas or flatbreads, plus a wedge of lemon on the side.
Chickpeas with herbs, honey, pecorino and hazelnuts
It’s the honey here that caught my eye. And Laura Alabaf’s pretty plateful did not disappoint. Chickpeas do awfully well in a sweeter setting.
Serves 2
1 shallot, finely diced
1 tsp olive oil
400g cooked and drained chickpeas
30g toasted hazelnuts
25g basil, roughly chopped
25g parsley, roughly chopped
A sprig of mint, leaves roughly chopped
1 tsp lemon juice
½ tsp honey
50g pecorino, crumbled
Salt
1 Preheat the oven to 180C/350F/gas mark 4. Throw the shallot and chickpeas into a hot pan with the oil to colour and cook the shallot. When the chickpeas start to brown and the shallot is translucent, remove from the heat and set aside.
2 Put the nuts into a pestle and mortar and grind to rough pieces. Add the herbs, lemon, honey and a pinch of salt, and grind to a rough, thick paste. Add half the pecorino and grind together a little more. Check for seasoning and add more honey or lemon juice to taste.
3 Stir half the paste into the warm chickpeas, dot with the remaining paste and scatter with the reserved crumbled pecorino and a few more toasted hazelnuts. Serve with a hunk of sourdough.
Chole bhature
Another winning slow-cook. As with most curries, you really don’t want to eat Claire Cameron’s Indian chole on the day of making; I’m writing on day three, and the flavour is full and resplendent.
For the bhature
80g plain yoghurt
½ tbsp soft brown sugar
½ tsp baking powder
60g plain flour
150g unbleached white flour
Salt
Vegetable oil or ghee
A splash of warm water
For the chole
Vegetable oil for cooking
1 tsp cumin seeds
1 tsp coriander seeds
1 tsp turmeric powder
1 medium white onion, diced
5 garlic cloves, finely chopped
1 thumbsize piece of ginger, finely chopped
1 small green chilli, deseeded and finely chopped
1 tsp chilli powder, or 1 small red chilli, deseeded and finely chopped
1 tsp cumin powder
1 tsp garam masala
A pinch of black pepper
1 can crushed tomatoes
2 x 400g cans of chickpeas, drained
1 cinnamon stick
1 or 2 bay leaves
Water
A fistful of coriander leaves
1 To make the bhature: the night before your meal, combine the yoghurt, brown sugar, baking powder and plain flour in a bowl. Thin with a little water if necessary – it should be a bit thicker than pancake batter. Cover the bowl and store in a warm, dry place for about 8 hours. When the batter has little bubbles across the surface, similar to a pancake mid-cooking, then it is ready to use.
2 Take the unbleached flour, a pinch of salt and ½ tbsp vegetable oil, and rub together in a bowl between your fingers. Then add the fermented batter and a splash of warm water, combining both batters to form a smooth and pliable, but not sticky, dough. Add more water or flour as needed to get the texture right. Knead on a nonstick or floured surface for about 10 minutes – not too hard – and then cover it with a slightly wet tea towel and put it away for another 2 hours. No need to touch it now until you’ve made the chole.
3 To make the chole, add a little oil to a medium-size saucepan and on a medium heat fry the cumin seeds, coriander seeds and turmeric powder. When fragrant, add the onion, garlic, ginger, chilli, spices and a pinch of salt. Saute on a low heat until the onions soften and start to brown, then add the tomatoes, chickpeas, cinnamon stick and bay leaves. Stir, add water to cover, then turn the heat down to low-medium and cover. Cook, stirring occasionally, until the chole has softened and become fragrant – about 30 minutes. Add water if it starts to stick. Adjust spice to taste.
4 Just before you’re ready to serve, divide the bhature dough into 8 balls. Flour a rolling pin, and roll out the balls to form discs 12-15cm across. At this point, take the chole off the heat, and place in a serving dish with coriander leaves on top for garnish.
5 Heat about 5cm of oil in a deep pan. Once the oil is hot (test by putting a small crumb of dough in and seeing if it fries), using a pair of tongs, carefully fry each circle of dough in the oil, turning until it starts to puff up and become golden brown – this may take longer than you expect. Once golden, remove from the oil and drain on kitchen paper.
6 Once fried, place all the bhature on a large plate and serve with the chole.
