We had these spicy little numbers yesterday for lunch–with grilled strips of marinaded chicken breasts and swiss chard leaves sautéed with garlic and olive oil.
This is adapted from a lovely book of recipes by Australian cookery writer Jody Vassallo, which I found at Café Plum in Lautrec in French (it sells books as well as coffee, and feels Parisien!).
1 16 oz/450 gm tin or bottle of cooked chickpeas–drained, rinsed and dried (it’s important to dry them well– kitchen paper comes in handy here).
1 clove of garlic-crushed to a paste, with a little salt
1 tsp each of smoked paprika, cumin powder, white pepper powder, coriander powder, cayenne powder, dried thyme, dried oregano and salt–(or as many of these as you can muster!)
2 tablespoons olive oil
Put the garlic, spices and dried herbs in a bowl and add the salt.
Mix these together thoroughly with a fork.
Add the chickpeas to the bowl and turn them over to coat them in the mixture.
Heat the olive oil in a large frying pan.
When the oil is hot add the chickpeas and roll them about in the oil–they should ideally lie in one layer.
Cook them over a gentle heat for 10 minutes, until they colour and crisp up.
They were delicious with:
A chicken breast each–cut into thin strips, seasoned and marinaded in olive oil for an hour.
Then cooked on a hot grill plate for a couple of minutes each side.
and
A large handful of swiss chard leaves (or spinach) washed and most of the water shaken off it, then sautéed in 2 tablespoons of olive oil with 1 clove of garlic sliced very fine.
Heat the oil in a pan you can cover.
Fry the garlic until it starts to colour.
Carefully add the chard, a little salt and turn it in the oil.
Cover the pan and let the chard reduce until it is tender.
The excess water makes a little sauce, but if there’s too much just drain it off.
I arranged it all on a single plate and we fought for the last chickpea!
Robin Ellis 