Spiced Tomato Chickpeas

Ingredients

• 1 cup of chickpeas (soaked overnight, boiled over 45 mins or until soft not mushy)
• 1 can of chopped tomatoes OR 3 tbsp of tomato puree if a drier version is desired
• 2 tomatoes, diced (optional)
• 2 tsp of sugar
• 1 tsp of ground cumin
• 1 tsp over of ground cinnamon
• 1 tsp over of ground coriander
• 3 cloves of garlic, chopped
• 2 medium onions, julienned
• 1 small knob of grated ginger

I baked a casserole of vegeterian lasagne with chickpeas before,  the texture of cooked chickpeas are almost similar to biting into white meat, pretty good, it is an idea borrowed from sister N.  Today, I whipped up this dish to use up the remaining dried chickpeas sitting in the tub since last autumn, another load off the cabinet.

As I was searching for a way to make full use of these nutritious beans. I came across a lot of recipes using tomato based sauce and spices as a way to dish them up. So, here is my version. They turned out well indeed.

Preparation

1. In a deep pan, heat up a good 3 rounds of olive oil on high heat.
2. Then, add in garlic to cook, before it browns, add in onions to soften.
3. When the onions turn translucent, add in the spices (cinnamon, cumin and coriander), stir fry until the aroma is released.
4. Now, toss in the tomatoes to stew for half a mins and sugar.
5. Dump in the softened chickpeas to stir in, let them stew in the tomatoes for about 15 mins or so.
6. Finally, add salt to taste.

Serve it hot on freshly toasted baguettes or with rice. I kept the dish in the fridge over the week to feed on lunches, it is doing the job to keep the hunger at bay for a long while.