Chickpea Stew with homemade cooked chickpeas and homemade tomato paste

👨‍🍳 Method

For the homemade cooked chickpeas ✓ Homemade · or skip – back to store-bought

1. 1
   Soak the chickpeas overnight in plenty of cold water.

   Bowl

   💡Soak in plenty of water, well above what's being soaked: legumes and grains swell and drink water, and whatever sticks out stays hard. Drain well before continuing.
2. 2
   Drain, cover with plenty of unsalted water and cook 1.5–2 hours, skimming off the foam and skins from time to time, until the chickpeas are very soft and crush easily between your fingers.

   ColanderStovePot

   💡Fully cooked chickpeas crush between your fingers with no resistance at all. Chickpeas that stay a little firm make a grainy spread, and no amount of tahini will fix it.
3. 3
   Drain, reserving a cup of the cooking liquid.

   Colander

For the homemade tomato paste ✓ Homemade · or skip – back to store-bought

1. 4
   Wash the tomatoes, remove the cores and quarter each tomato.

   KnifeCutting board
2. 5
   Put the tomatoes, the salt and half of the olive oil in a wide pot, cover and cook over medium heat about 20 minutes, until the tomatoes soften and release their liquid.

   StoveWide, shallow pot
3. 6
   Pass the tomatoes and their liquid through a food mill or sieve and return the purée to the pot: the skins and seeds stay behind.

   Food millorFine sieve
4. 7
   Cook uncovered about an hour at a lively simmer, stirring now and then, until the purée reduces by half.

   StoveWooden spoon

   💡The paste burns easily as it dries: stir and scrape the bottom and edges, and once it is thick, don't walk away.
5. 8
   Preheat the oven to 110°C (230°F).

   Oven

   💡Put things in the oven only once it's reached temperature, after the heating light has gone off: an oven that hasn't reached temperature changes baking times, and the bake burns outside or stays underbaked.
6. 9
   Grease a wide baking dish with the rest of the olive oil and pour in the purée in a thin layer. Dry in the oven about 3 hours, stirring and scraping the edges every 30 minutes, until the paste is thick, sticky and brick red.

   OvenBaking sheetSilicone spatula
7. 10
   Let the paste cool.

   Jar

For the Fried onion

1. 11
   Heat the olive oil in a wide pot over medium heat.

   StoveWide, shallow pot
2. 12
   Add the onion and fry 5–6 minutes, stirring now and then, until the onion is soft and translucent and starts to turn golden at the edges. If it browns too fast, lower the heat.

   Stove

   💡Add by cooking time: what needs long (onion, carrot, meat) goes in first, and what burns fast (garlic, dry spices) goes in last, only until fragrant.

To assemble

1. 13
   Add the garlic, cumin, turmeric, paprika, ground coriander, salt and black pepper and stir.
2. 14
   Add the tomatoes and tomato paste and cook 5 minutes.

   Stove
3. 15
   Add the stock and chickpeas and bring to a boil.

   Stove
4. 16
   Turn down the heat, cover and simmer 20 minutes, until the stew thickens.

   StoveLid

   💡A gentle simmer, not a boil: a hard boil dries the food out and clouds it, a slow simmer cooks it evenly.
5. 17
   Add the lemon juice and stir.
6. 18
   Sprinkle the cilantro on top.
7. 19
   Serve the stew hot with pita.