Cooking time aside, this was a "5 minutes of effort dish", which I always like. I paired it with homemade merguez patties but you could serve it with couscous on the side as a vegetarian comfort meal or, as I intend to next time, with plump juicy sausages browned in a skillet and then finished off directly in the chickpea broth.
I usually have no problems with canned beans, and consider them both pantry staple and savior, but dried chickpeas really make a difference here.
2 cups dried chickpeas
1 bunch kale, washed, stems removed and chopped
2 cloves garlic
1 bay leaf
1 shallot
2 Tbsps tomato paste
1 can chopped tomato
1/4 tsp ground cumin
1/4 tsp ground coriander
1 tsp olive oil
1/2 cup water
Salt to taste
Rehydrate the chickpeas. I usually cover them with water as I make my coffee in the morning and they are ready for use when I get home. The night before works just fine as well.
Rinse the chickpeas and drain them. Place them in a large soup pot and cover generously with new water. Add the bay leaf and 1 clove of garlic, crushed.
Cover the pan, place over a low burner and simmer gently for about an hour and a half. Check at that point to see if they are done; you may need an additional 30 minutes or so.
Drain the chickpeas and place the pan that you used to cook them in back on the hob, keeping the burner on low. Add the oil, the shallot and remaining garlic clove, both finely chopped, as well as the cumin and coriander. Cook, stirring often, for a few minutes so that the shallot and garlic start to cook through and the spices smell fragrant.
Add the tomato paste and mix in well. Let cook for a minute without stirring. I always do this with tomato paste as I feel that it takes away the slight metallic taste that tomato concentrate always seems to have. After a minute stir well to make sure it doesn't catch and burn.
Tip the chickpeas back into the pan, add the can of chopped tomato, juices and all and the water. Stir well. Salt to taste. Cover and let cook for 15 minutes so that the flavors have a chance to marry.
Add the chopped kale, pressing in well so that the kale is submerged in the liquid. Cover again and cook for an additional 10 minutes.
Remove from the heat, check if more salt is needed. Serve as described above.
inspiration recipe, here.