Chickpea and Lemon Stew

This Chickpea and Lemon Stew is packed with heartiness from the chickpeas, bright citrus bursts from the preserved lemon, and an overall spice thanks to the fresh spices!  After the holidays and with even more upcoming holidays, this stew will satisfy your hunger but leave you feeling light! Plus, the spices used are quite different than any holiday spice, giving your tastebuds a break! 

On my trip to Seattle for the International Food Blogger Conference this past September, we were hosted by UrbanSpoon at a dinner at The Golden Beetle.

Golden Beetle is rooted in the cultures and culinary styles of the Eastern Mediterranean. Our James Beard Award-winning executive chef and owner, Maria Hines, utilizes Eastern Mediterranean spices and flavors to present the Northwest’s best organic and seasonal ingredients from local farmers and foragers. 

One of the dishes that most impressed me was the Savory Chickpea & Lemon Stew – a small bowl packed with tender chickpeas, preserved lemons, smoky paprika, and a swoosh of tangy Greek yogurt that balanced the dish. Oh and tucked in the stew were these tiny croutons that added the perfectly needed crunch in this dish. As the food bloggers in attendance tasted the stew, we all sighed and looked around, without saying a word. It was that good and we were speechless.

After dinner, I immediately emailed the manager and asked for the recipe! Thankfully, they were nice enough to share it and today I’ve adapted it and am sharing with you! This is a simple recipe but needs some preparation in advance. Here are some things you’re going to need:

• Preserved lemon: you’ll need to preserve some lemons for this recipe (or you can purchase a jar of already preserved lemons), but doing it yourself is so much easier and cheaper! Food52 has a quick, one minute video on how to do it and you’ll only need a mason jar, kosher salt, and lemons!
• Spices: a variety of spices are called for in this recipe, such as green cardamom pods, cumin seeds, and black peppercorns. For this, I headed over to my favorite online spice shop, SavorX and ordered one ounce of each. SavorX sells spices in as low as 1-ounce packets, that way you’ll always have fresh spices!
• Croutons: the original dish had these teeny, tiny croutons which were amazing and so crunchy! Grab your favorite bread, slice thinly and cut into squares. Toss with your favorite olive oil and bake until golden brown.

Let’s talk about chickpeas: the original recipe called for dried chickpeas but I had a can of whole chickpeas in the pantry I wanted to use. If you’re using dried chickpeas, below are the Chef’s instructions.

“The night before cooking place chickpeas and baking soda in a large container and cover with water at least double the amount of chickpeas. Refrigerate over night. the next day take all the aromatics and the celery, onion, carrot and garlic and put them in cheese cloth, tied securely with butcher twine, this is your sachet and prevents having to “fish” vegetables out later. Drain and rinse chickpeas put in a pot and cover with three inches of water, add sachet. Bring to a boil and drop to a simmer for at least an hour and then check every ten minutes for doneness. The chickpeas should be tender without any chalkiness. The closer they get to being done the easier it is to overcook them, so once you hit the ninety minute mark keep a close eye on them.  Once cooked through add 3 tablespoons salt.”

If you’re using canned, like I did, I just rinsed and soaked them for 10 minutes in cool water and then peeled them. You don’t need to peel them, but I find it a relaxing thing to do!

Chickpea and Lemon Stew

Light but extremely flavorful and filling, this stew is a perfect balance to heavier fall dishes!

Print Recipe

Prep Time:30 minutes mins

Cook Time:45 minutes mins

Total Time:1 hour hr 15 minutes mins

Ingredients

For the stock

• 4 cups water
• 1 garlic clove whole
• 1 large carrots chopped
• 1 stalk celery chopped
• ½ medium onion chopped
• 3 green cardamom pods
• 1 teaspoon EACH: whole black peppercorn cumin seed, and whole coriander
• 1 dried bay leaf

For the chickpea stew

• 1, 16 ounce can whole chickpeas
• 2 tablespoons olive oil
• 2 tablespoons onion finely minced
• 1 teaspoon garlic finely minced
• ¼ preserved lemon pitted and julienned
• 1 teaspoon smoked paprika
• 2 tablespoons lime juice
• to taste: greek yogurt and croutons

Instructions

• For the stock, place all the ingredients in a medium pan and simmer for about 30 to 40 minutes, until liquid is reduced to one cup. Strain and reserve.
• Peel the chickpeas (this makes the end result even better, even though it takes a good 10 minutes to peel one can of chickpeas).
• In a small pan over medium heat, warm the olive oil and sauté the onion, garlic, and lemon. Sprinkle with the smoked paprika and lime juice.
• Add chickpeas and stock, simmer for 5 more minutes.
• To serve: swoosh greek yogurt in individual bowls, sprinkle with smoked paprika, top with chickpea stew, and sprinkle with croutons.

Notes

Recipe adapted from The Golden Beetle recipe, re-adapted by Chef Ariel Fishman-Larsh, who provided the original recipe for this.

Servings: 2 cups