Hamusta – Sour Chicken Stew with Celery with homemade cooked chickpeas

👨‍🍳 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 Fried onion

1. 4
   Heat the oil in a pot over medium heat.

   StovePot
2. 5
   Add and fry 5–8 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.
3. 6
   Add the garlic and fry 30 seconds, just until fragrant. Don't let the garlic brown.

   Stove

To assemble

1. 7
   Add the chicken thighs and fry 3 minutes per side, until browned on all sides.

   Stove
2. 8
   Add the cumin, turmeric, chili pepper, salt and black pepper and stir.
3. 9
   Add the leaf celery, stock, chickpeas and lemon juice and bring to a boil.

   Stove
4. 10
   Turn down the heat, cover and simmer 40–45 minutes, until the celery is tender.

   StoveLid

   💡A gentle simmer, not a boil: a hard boil dries the food out and clouds it, a slow simmer cooks it evenly.
5. 11
   Serve the stew with white rice.