On the Table: Chickpeas and Chilis

For the past few weeks, I have been on a mission to clean out the fridge, freezer, and cabinets.  I like to keep my kitchen well-stocked so that I have plenty of ingredients on hand for experimenting.  Recently, however, I have not only been running out of space, but also noticing that there are definitely some products that have been hanging around for a while.  I have been making a concerted effort to use them (even frozen and canned goods expire eventually!). 

I love making hummus from scratch, but it seems that I went a little overboard in terms of stockpiling ingredients; today I decided to find an alternative use for some of the chickpeas (also called garbanzo beans) I had in the cabinet.  Whenever I visit the kabob restaurant down the street (I will post a review one day!), I love getting their chickpea dish, so I decided to experiment with leaving the chickpeas whole and cooking and seasoning them as a side dish.  The result was less Afghan and more Tex-Mex/Indian fusion, but it was delicious nonetheless! 

In preparing this dish, I managed to rid my fridge and cabinet of: a can of chickpeas/garbanzo beans; one small white onion; and some diced green chilis leftover from making (ironically) spicy hummus a while ago.

To prepare the chickpeas:

Small dice one small white onion.  Rough chop one large clove of garlic or three small cloves of garlic.  Drain a (15.5 oz) can of chickpeas.  To a large frying pan over medium heat, add enough canola oil to thinly coat the bottom of the pan (about 1-1.5 tablespoons). 

When the oil is warm, add the onions.  Stir frequently, and when the onions get tender, add the garlic.  Allow to cook for just a few minutes (you don't want the garlic to burn!), then add the chickpeas and half a cup of diced green chilis.  To the pan, add about 1.5 cups of stock (I used chicken stock since I had some in the fridge, but you can certainly use vegetable stock if you want to keep the recipe vegetarian or vegan); 1/4 teaspoon of cumin; 1/4 teaspoon of coriander; 1/8 teaspoon of ground ginger; 1 teaspoon of garam masala; and 1/4 teaspoon of salt.  Cover the pan, turn down the heat to low, and allow to cook for about one hour or until the chickpeas are tender but not mushy. 

Throughout the cooking time, you will want to check the chickpeas - you may need to add more stock (there needs to be enough liquid in the pan to keep the chickpeas from sticking and burning!).  When the chickpeas are cooked through, remove the lid, adjust the seasoning, and allow the liquid to cook down, if there is too much left in the pan.  Finish with a squeeze of lemon juice.

Enjoy!