Crockpot Tunisian Chickpeas [recipe]

[Guest guest]

Autumn is definitely here in Scotland so I got out the slow cooker

(crockpot) at the weekend and started looking through my recipe

books. I don't use my slow cooker as much as I would like to, so

this winter I am aiming to try out at least one new crockpot recipe

per week.

 

This recipe calls for harissa paste which is a hot paste used a lot

in North African cooking. I usually buy a small jar of it but you

could make it from scratch, Christiane has a recipe for it on her

blog:

http://28cooks.blogspot.com/2006/03/harissa-i-adore-hot-sauces-and-

i.html

 

Tunisian Chickpeas

 

225g (1 1/3 cups) dried chickpeas (garbanzos) soaked overnight

30ml (2Tbsp) olive oil

1 onion finely chopped

2 carrots julienned (I used a potato peeler)

2.5 cm (1 inch) fresh root ginger, peeled and finely grated

600ml (2 1/2 cups) vegetable stock

1 cinnamon stick

pinch of saffron

30 ml (2 tbsp) tomato paste

5-10 ml (1-2 tsp) harissa paste

2.5 ml (1/2 tsp) ground cumin

200g (1 cup) chopped tomatoes

salt and black pepper to taste

Handful of fresh coriander (cilantro)

 

Preheat crockpot on High. Put drained soaked chickpeas in fresh

water in a saucepan, bring to the boil and cook for 10 min. In

another saucepan saute the onion and caroot in oilve oil until

tender. Add ginger, drained chickpeas (garbanzos), stock, tomato

paste, harissa paste, cumin, saffron and tomatoes. Bring to the boil

and transfer to slow cooker (crockpot). Cook on low for 8-10 hours

until all ingredients are tender. Add salt and pepper if required

and a handful of fresh chopped coriander leaves (cilantro). Serve

with rice or couscous.

Serves 4

Adapted from Vegetarian Recipes for your Slo-Cooker by Annette

Yates. This is an excellent book.

 

My slow cooker has an Auto setting which starts out on High and then

cooks on Low once the correct temperature has been reached so I

don't need to preheat or change settings, which is a blessing as

either age or CFS is making me rather absent minded these days.

I misread the recipe and added 2 Tbsp of harissa instead of 2 tsp so

the chickpeas were rather hot, but still very good nonetheless!

Christie