Best Chickpeas With Chilli Garlic And Thyme Nigella Lawson Recipes

CHICKPEAS WITH CHILLI, GARLIC AND THYME ( NIGELLA LAWSON )

Steps:

• Put chickpeas in enough cold water to cover generously along with the flour, salt and baking soda.
• Leave for 24 hours.
• After 24 hours drain and rinse thoroughly.
• Put the chickpeas in a big pot, cover with cold water, add the halved onion, sprigs of thyme and olive oil. Cover, bring to boil then reduce to rolling simmer. Do not uncover for at least 1 and 1/2 hours (or less, see description note above).
• After 1 and 1/2 hours check for doneness. If done, reserve 2 cups of cooking liquid and drain the chickpeas. Remove the thyme and onion as best you can. Set chickpeas aside for a moment.
• Chop the onion and garlic roughly and remove the thyme leaves from the stem. Throw onion, garlic and thyme in food processor (or chop as finely as you possibly can). Whirl it to a pulp.
• Heat 1/4 cup olive oil in large deep fry pan then add pulp mixture, Sprinkle with salt and cook gently for 5 minutes.
• Add the chickpeas and half the cooking liquid, cover and heat gently til everything is hot and the chick peas are soft.
• If there is too much liquid, remove the lid and let some boil off. If you run out of liquid, add a bit more.
• Sprinkle with more salt, additional thyme or more olive oil and serve.

CHICK PEAS WITH ROCKET AND SHERRY

Steps:

• Heat the oil and cumin seeds in a wok.
• Add the chick peas, salad, salt and sherry and give a good stir, and continue stirring over heat until the rocket and any other leaves have wilted, the chick peas have warmed through and the liquid has reduced a little.

CHORIZO AND CHICKPEA STEW

Steps:

• If ever there were justification for cupboard love, this would be it: a full-on feast thrown together to enormous effect, simply with ingredients that you can more or less keep on permanent standby. And, like so many of these recipes, it's pretty well instant. After all, if you haven't got time to shop, it's hardly likely you'll be able to spend many hours at the stove.
• I am, anyway, a huge fan of bulgar wheat - think couscous, only more robust - but cooked like this, with some strands of pasta tossed in hot oil first, it really has something extra. I was taught to do this, just chatting stoveside, by an Egyptian friend when I was in my twenties, and I've never seen any reason to change the drill. He, actually, didn't use torn-up spaghettini but, rather, lokshen, which are the short lengths of vermicelli customarily found in echt chicken soup.
• This is a tradition about as far away from the chorizo-cooking culture as you could get, but the chickpea-studded, tomatoey and paprika-hot stew goes extremely well with the nubbly grain. I keep a stock of cherry tomatoes in sauce in the cupboard, but regular canned tomatoes could be substituted easily enough.
• Warm the olive oil in a thick-bottomed saucepan on a medium heat.
• Fry the pasta bits in the oil for a minute, stirring, until they look like slightly scorched straws. Then add the bulgar wheat and stir for another minute or two.
• Stir in the cinnamon and the salt, and then pour the water into the pan. Add the bay leaves, and bring to a boil, then turn down to the lowest heat, add a lid, and leave for 15 minutes, until all the water has been absorbed.
• Put another thick-bottomed saucepan on a medium heat, add the chorizo pieces and fry until the orange oil runs out. Then add the sherry and let it bubble away. Add the apricots (if using), along with the chickpeas (or beans) and canned tomatoes, and 3/4 fill each empty tomato can with water and swish it out into the pan. Put on a high heat to bubble for about 5 minutes. Add salt and pepper, to taste.
• Serve with the bulgar wheat and, if there's any to hand, some chopped cilantro.