Spanish chickpeas & spinach stew
 
Prep time
Cook time
Total time
 
Author:
Cuisine: Mediterranean diet
Serves: 4 people
Ingredients
  • 500g (2 ½ cup) Organic chickpeas in water
  • 500g (2 ¼ cups) Fresh spinach leaves
  • 1 Onion, peeled and finely chopped
  • 2 Carrots, peeled and diced
  • 1 Boiled egg
  • 1 Teaspoon Pimentón de la Vera (Spanish paprika)
  • 2 Tablespoons extra virgin olive oil
  • 1 Teaspoon salt (or salt to taste)
  • 1 Tablespoon pine nuts
  • 1 Garlic clove, peeled and crushed
Instructions
  1. Have all the vegetables well washed and prepared as indicated in the ingredients description. Rinse the chickpeas well and drain.
  2. Heat the olive oil in a large saucepan. Add the carrots and a pinch of salt and cook over a low heat, stirring frequently, for about 3 minutes. Add then the onion and continue stirring for 2 more minutes. Add the chickpeas and cover them with water.
  3. In the meantime, in a mortar mix the peeled and crushed garlic clove, the salt, the boiled egg yolk, the pine nuts, the Spanish paprika and a couple of tablespoons of chickpeas and pestle until you get a paste. This paste will be a perfect thickener for the stew.
  4. Add this paste to the chickpeas and cook it all together at low-medium heat for around 10 minutes. Add then the spinach and cook for 3 more minutes.
  5. Remove from the heat and serve hot.
Notes
If you were using dried chickpeas, to cook them: soak the dried chickpeas in warm water for 12 hours with ⅓ teaspoon of baking soda (ideally leave them soaked overnight). Rinse them well and drain. Bring water to a boil in a cooking pot and when the water is boiling add the chickpeas and leave them cooking over low heat for 2 hours until tender.

You could also add a slice of fried bread to the mix in the mortar and pestle it with the rest of ingredients indicated in step 3.

It is very common to cut in small dices the boiled egg white and add it right before serving.
Recipe by Tasty Mediterraneo at https://www.tastymediterraneo.com/spanish-chickpea-spinach-stew/