Chickpea Stew is another classic juicy dish of Turkish cuisine. There are two main versions of this stew. The one with meat and the other one is without meat. For the meaty one, you can make it either with lamb cubes or chicken breast meat. You may ask yourself; is there any dish that exists in Turkish or Ottoman cuisines without meat. The answer is yes and plenty.
Making Chickpea Stew is almost identical to making Turkish White Beans Stew. So; if you read my Turkish White Bean Stew recipe, you will not get any difficulties while making the Chickpea Stew.
In Turkey, Chickpea Stew is not only preferred by its taste but also it is at the top of the dietician’s healthy foods list. If you are on a diet and you are so done eating the untasteful diet food, Chickpea Stew will help you to change your mouth taste so quickly. It is a digestion system-friendly and vegetable protein-rich dish. It also helps to balance blood pressure.
Where to find?
If you are visiting Turkey and trying to give a shot at this magnificent taste, the best option for you is to find either an Esnaf Lokantası (Tradesman Restaurant). I already mentioned this in my Turkish White Beans Stew recipe. Those Tradesman Restaurestaurants are the best type of restaurant where you can find juicy dishes.
If you are visiting Istanbul, you may have a big chance to come across small Pilaf Food Cars around the tourist locations of the city. In those small hand-push food cars, you may see Chickpeas, Pilaf, and baked Chicken meat in it. If you are a vegetarian, you can buy plain Chickpeas on top of Pilaf and pickle aside. If you are not a vegetarian, I strongly recommend you eat Chickpea, Pilaf, and baked Chicken combo together.
How to eat?
As it looks like a similar dish to the White Turkish Beans Stew, you can eat it with pilaf, pickles, and cacik aside. If you are in Turkey and found an Esnaf Lokantası (Tradesman Restaurant) and you want to eat something else but at the same time want to taste Chickpeas Stew, you can tell the waiter to bring you Chickpea Stew on top of pilaf. This is also a very common order type when you are at an Esnaf Lokantası (Tradesman Restaurant) in Turkey. In this way, you will be able to taste more different tastes in one order.
Chickpea Stew
Ingredients
- 2 cups Chickpeas
- 250 gr Diced lamb meat
- 1 onion diced
- 2 garlic cloves peeled and thin sliced
- 2 tomatoes peeled and chopped
- 6 cups hot water
- 4 tbsp butter
- 1 tbsp tomato paste
- 1 tbsp pepper paste
- 1 teaspoon salt
- 1/2 teaspoon ground black pepper
Instructions
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Soak the chickpeas overnight (12 hours).
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Rinse the chickpeas well and set aside.
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Put the butter, diced onions, and sliced garlic cloves into a pressure cooker and stir until onions have a golden color. And then add the lamb cubes and saute until lamb cubes have brown color (about 5-8 minutes) on your stove at low-medium level heat.
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Add the peeled and chopped tomatoes, tomato paste, pepper paste, black pepper, and salt into the pressure cooker and stir them well for about 5 minutes.
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Add the rinsed chickpeas and stir them all well.
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Add 6 cups of hot water to the pressure cooker, stir them again and then seal the pressure cooker lid.
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Turn the safety valve to the proper pressure indicator, and as soon as it starts boiling, simmer at low heat for 15-20 minutes.
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Depressurize the pressure cooker and then remove it from the heat.
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Serve
