Chickpea Stew

January 24th, 2011

So this new year has been about trying new things. Experimenting.  Stepping outside my comfort zone. One of the big things I wanted to work on this year was developing healthier recipes. I am trying to stay away from canned, or processed items as much as possible and if by necessity I need to use a canned or processed item I am trying to find the best quality I able to.  Spend more in time and money to find a cleaner, more natural product. One of the other promises I made to myself was that I would try and find more meat free options for my diet.  Learn to embrace a diet with more fruits and vegetables and not so dependent on red meat. So I have been experimenting with tofu, lentils, beans and legumes and one of my favorite legumes is the humble chickpea.                

  I love  chickpeas. Wether you  pureed and make them  into hummus, or roughly grind and make them into falafel.  I love marinating them in good italian salad dressing and then eating them as snacks.  Or I will use them in soups and stews or  I will toss them onto a green salad. I eat quite a share of chickpeas in a year. I cant even remember where I had my first one. Most likely I took a spoonful or two  from  some salad bar where I felt safe to try them without having to buy a whole can. But once I did try my first one, I was hooked.


For this recipe, I started by soaking dried organic chickpeas overnight in water. Then the next morning I  pureed  fresh ripe tomatoes, garlic and just a touch of onion in the food processor. Once I had a fine, even puree I added them to a skillet with just a table spoon of olive oil. I "fried" that mixture at a slow heat, stirring often until the tomato mixture has condensed into a dark rich, thick paste. Then in a 6 quart dutch over I sautéed diced onions, carrots, celery and garlic until they were soft and fragrant. I added a good table spoon of a high quality, salt free curry powder and stirred it into the veggies. Letting the essential oils in the curry powder bloom in the warm oil. Then I added the friend tomato mixture to the pan and stirred in in. Reducing the heat, I let the paste blend with the curry. Finally I tossed in the presoaked chickpeas, bay leaves, and some crushed red pepper flake and a can of diced, tomatoes (no salt added). I added homemade vegetable broth to cover the beans and then I brought the whole mixture to a simmer before I sealed the pot and put it into a 300 degree oven. I let it slow simmer for about 2 hours. I checked the mixture often and added just enough water to ensure the beans wouldn't burn.  I knew I wanted a thick stew and not a thin broth. While the stew was cooking I cut in half a zucchini and a yellow squash, brushed them with olive oil and grilled them. I wanted to add them at the last few minutes of cooking. The grilling would give another level of flavor to the stew. and the enhance the visual appearance. When the chickpeas were finally just about done, I pulled the Dutch oven out of the oven and put it back on stove. I pulled the lid off and simmered the stew slowly until the broth had reduced to the right consistency. About 15 minutes from being done, I added more diced carrot, and celery and the grilled zucchini and squash. Just to warm them through and coat them with the broth.

I served the stew with warm pieces of Pita bread for dunking. It was absolutely wonderful. I have to admit that I had some left over links of andouille sausage and after a bowl of the vegetarian stew, I warmed some slices of the andouille and added it to the stew. It was even better. But with or without the meat, this is a satisfying meal.

The hardest part of this recipe, or working with a creating lower sodium recipes is learning how to adapt to the fact that for me, the recipes taste dull. Less bright and flavorful. Its hard to send out recipes that taste so plain. Its hard adapting to creating and sending meals that I think don't taste right. I have had to pull out little batches and salt them to my taste so that I can be sure that they are seasoned well enough otherwise. But its nice to know that I or my clients can then adjust them to what suits their needs. And its so comforting to know I and they are eating better.  From scratch cooking takes so much more energy and effort, but the results speak for themselves.