Chickpeas with spinach and tomatoes doesn’t sound very exotic to some food enthusiasts but it’s definitely a delicious meal to me. It was one of my favorite dishes growing-up.
It’s nutritious, healthy and tasty! In Cyprus, it’s quite common to serve different kind of beans as main dishes. This is one of them.
Chickpeas are probably the most nutritious type of beans and so is spinach in the vegetable arena! What a dynamic combination in this dish. :-)
It’s an easy dish to make after you cook the chickpeas and you take the shells off. You can leave the shells on but they will be lighter on the stomach if you do. I can definitely assure you of that.
2 cups dry chickpeas
2 teaspoons baking soda
1 cup chopped tomatoes
3 teaspoons tomato paste
1 bunch fresh spinach or 5 cups chopped spinach
¾ cup olive oil
½ cup chopped yellow onion
5 cups of water
Salt
Pepper
Place the chickpeas in a bowl with 2 teaspoons of baking soda and enough water to cover them completely. Let them soak overnight or for about 8 hours. By the following morning they will double in size.
Drain the water. Let some cold water run through them.
Spread them out on a clean cloth kitchen towel. Cover them with a second towel. Start rolling an empty bottle over them or a pastry rolling pin. Press down hard so the chickpeas crack. Once they are cracked it is easy to peel the shells off.
Place a deep saucepan on high heat. add the onions and half of the olive oil. Sauté until the onions are soft. Add the chickpeas and stir a few times. Add the 5 cups of water.
Let them come to a boil. Reduce the heat to medium low. Add the tomatoes, tomato paste, salt, pepper and remaining olive oil.
Wash the spinach in cold water. Cut the stems off. Get rid of any excess water with paper towels.
Let the chickpeas cook for about an hour. Add the spinach.
Add some warm water if needed to cover the chickpeas completely.
Stir well and let them cook for another 30 minutes or until the chickpeas are tender and they can easily be split with a fork. By the time the chickpeas are fully cooked, the sauce should have also thickened up.
Serves 4-6
You can definitely use canned chickpeas for this recipe but you are compromising on the taste of the dish if you do.
Serve this dish with some sardines or herring on the side, black olives and bread.
You can easily keep this in the refrigerator for a few days if it’s not consumed right on the first day!
Every taste has a story to me. The story that comes to me right now related to this dish is that the food that I craved the most while I was hospitalized years ago was actually this dish. Once I started getting better and could eat anything my mom asked me what I craved so she could cook it for me and bring it to the hospital – I said chickpeas with spinach. When I said that I could see the surprise even in my mom’s face that out of all the foods I chose beans!
To me a meal can be delicious even if it consists only of a couple of ingredients and it’s easy to prepare. I firmly believe that it’s the combination of ingredients that makes something taste good or bad. Some of you can definitely tell me that sardines taste bad. I will say not to me but it all comes down to personal taste.
Enjoy making this dish perhaps with some of your own variations to suit your own personal taste.
And enjoy sharing it with your friends and family.
Και καλη ορεξη – good appetite.
Till next time, stay well!
Litsa
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