Slow Cooked Spiced Chickpeas with Tomatoes, Garlic & Ginger
I love full of flavour food and this recipe is no exception! It is one of our family’s favourite recipes and it’s so good I made it twice in one week!
The best part, though, is that you throw everything into a pan and pop it in the oven, leaving it to its own devices. The oil is a must though, cooking the chickpeas in the oil makes them go super-soft and once all the flavours release into the oil, you are left with the best part of the dish! Best mopped up with some homemade garlic naan (recipe).
My Most Important Ingredient in My Kitchen:
New Season Extra Virgin Olive Oil (EVOO) is such a treat early Autumn in my kitchen olive oil IS my most important ingredient in my kitchen!
It’s the start and finish of my most of my meals.
The very first new season olive oil is such a treat, like this one, from the Marais family in Piquet-berg.
If you want to elevate your cooking, start with the base and this is the perfect start.
EVOO is GOOD FOR US!
It contains POLYPHENOLS (antioxidants – protects our cells from damage) and good fats.
- You can absolutely COOK with EVOO and you should!
- Don’t faff around with just olive oil which are normally a blend with other (less quality) oils, go for Extra Virgin
- Find an oil that you like, some cultivars are mild if you like less of of a bitterness or burn.
- The NEW SEASON has started so make sure you are getting 2024 harvest and not last years.
- Get to know your famer and producer, it really is the only way that you know what you are cooking with.
Serving Suggestions:
Slowly Cooked Chickpeas with Tomatoes, Garlic & Ginger
Ingredients
- 2 x 400g tins chickpeas drained
- 11 garlic cloves peeled
- 30 g piece fresh ginger peeled and cut into very thin strips
- 300 g cherry tomatoes
- 3 red chillies mild or spicy, to taste, slit open lengthways, seeds removed to reduce heat
- 1 tbsp tomato paste
- 1 tsp caster sugar
- 1 tspn salt
- 200 ml olive oil
- 4 pita breads or other flatbread optional
Spice Mix
- 2 teaspoon each cumin & coriander seeds toasted, crushed in mortar & pestle
- ½ tsp ground turmeric
Coriander & Mint Yogurt
- 8 tbsp 15g mint leaves
- 8 tbsp 30g coriander leaves, roughly chopped
- 1 tspn crushed garlic
- 180 g Greek-style yoghurt
- lime zest and 1 tbspn lime juice
Instructions
- Heat the oven to 170C.
- Put the chickpeas, whole garlic cloves, ginger, tomatoes, chillies, tomato paste, spices, sugar, oil and a teaspoon of salt in a large, ovenproof saute pan for which you have a lid, then stir to combine. Cover, put in the oven and cook for 75 minutes, stirring once halfway, until the aromatics have softened and the tomatoes have broken down.
- Meanwhile, make the yoghurt dressing. Put the mint, coriander, yoghurt, lime juice, crushed garlic and a quarter-teaspoon of salt in the small bowl of a food processor and blitz smooth.
- Serve the chickpeas with the yoghurt and pickle alongside, with warm pitta or flatbread, if you wish. See above for my serving suggestions.