Moroccan Chickpea Stew

Everyone recovering from all the crazy amounts of food you ate over the past month? I have actually had to cut out sugar temporarily due to daily headaches--so sad!! In an effort to get back to some more sensible eating and beat the cold air that has taken over our house, I made this Moroccan Chickpea Stew. Over the past year I have played with this recipe a bit, trying out different variations, but this one by Dave Lieberman seems to have the best flavor as far as the spice combination. The cinnamon and cumin give it a warming feel for winter. If you have trouble digesting beans, refer to my post on sprouting a few days prior to cooking your beans or use that digestive trouble as a way to keep warm. Hah!

Moroccan Chickpea Stew
2-3 Tbs oil (olive oil is preferred)
2 medium onions, chopped
8 cloves garlic, minced
1 teaspoon cumin powder
1 teaspoon cinnamon
Pinch red chili powder, more if like
1 teaspoon paprika
1 400g can tomatoes (or blanched and peeled tomatoes)
3 cups cooked chickpeas
4 cups water
2 vegetable broth cubes
Salt and Pepper to taste
Pinch sugar, if tomatoes are tart
Handful roughly chopped greens

Heat oil over medium low heat. Add onions and cook until translucent.  Add the garlic and cook about 1 minute. Stir spices into the pot and cook until fragrant. As you add the tomatoes, crush them. Add the water, vegetable cubes, a few pinches of salt, and pepper. Bring to a boil, then simmer on low for about 30 minutes. Add the greens, bring back up to a boil, and allow them to wilt on low for about 5 minutes. Turn off the heat and serve with crusty bread.

If you want the soup to be more creamy, mash up some of the chickpeas in the pot before serving. This soup is totally flexible as far as how thick or thin you like it. At more or less broth to your liking. Pair it with the upcoming Pomegranate Herb Salad for an exciting Middle Eastern side.

Beans, Beans, the Magical Fruit

Are you scared? You should be because I love beans, but let's just say they don't always love me. Nor does anyone else after I have eaten them. How's that for brutal honesty? Seriously, though, the dietary benefits of legumes are undeniable, and we eat tons of small lentil-type legumes several days a week in our house without a hitch. It's those other larger beans, however, that are so great if you're trying to eat more meatless meals that wreak some record-breaking havoc on the intestines...even if you eat them all the time. Yes, theoretically, your body is supposed to better tolerate them the more often you eat them, but I've eaten a ton of beans over the past 8 years overseas and my family would argue that nothing has changed. :) So, if you're like me, do you cut out this economical, power-packed nutrition altogether? I haven't given up, and I think I've finally found a solution that everyone around me can live with--sprouting. Not horns, but miniature plants.

Beauties sprouting in my kitchen

There is a ton of very technical research on the internet about the benefits of sprouting which people can get a little cuckoo about, but here's the reason I tried it: The body breaks down sprouts more like a vegetable so it reduces the war that happens in the body afterward. Other research suggests that not pairing beans with meat sources can also help, which I have found to be true. The verdict is that after we tried sprouting in our house this extra step in bean prep seems to make a significant difference. I ate a massive amount of mixed beans in chili and felt great the next day!

Here's how:

• Soak your dried beans overnight then drain them. 
• Place them on a cookie sheet lined with a lightly dampened towel. 
• Cover the beans with another lightly dampened towel.
• Every evening and morning, give the beans a good rinse in a colander, redampen the towels, and put everything back on the cookie sheet. If your house is hotter than 75F, give them a midday rinse, too.
• Keep letting the beans go through this cycle until they have tiny tails.
• To cook them, start with about half your usual cooking time and check them, as they will cook a good bit faster than other soaked beans.

My vegetarian chili with mixed larger beans took about 3 days from the start of the overnight soak. Smaller lentils and dals will take only about a day or so. With short (1/4") sprouts, you get the benefits of sprouting, but your kids won't look at you like you've fed them a science experiment. Given the type of water we have here, I would not recommend eating sprouts raw as some people in other places can do. Happy sprouting!