a sort of chickpea fusion stew

[Apologies: I really meant to take a photo of this, but now we’ve scoffed most of it]

As I’ve written before, I love pulses. I try to use dried ones, because they’re so much cheaper, and they cook up beautifully in the slow cooker, without filling the kitchen with steam or having to be watched in case they boil over. You just have to be organised enough to put them in to soak, which I actually managed this week.

So, in they went for a soaking on Monday afternoon, and on Tuesday lunchtime I put them in the slow cooker, with a change of water. Then I forgot to turn them off again until we got back from the pub, but they had come to no harm.

On Wednesday, I chopped up the last of the agéd chorizo – so useful if you’re in a hurry: instant paprika and garlic! I put that to fry off in my huge cast iron casserole, with a little olive oil, and then hurled in two chopped aubergines, two chopped courgettes, and two roughly chopped red onions. Put it on low, and left it for a bit for the veg to cook down.

Remembered there was a tub of tomato and red wine sauce in the freezer, so liberated it and dunked it in a washing up bowl of cold water. After a bit, it slid out of its plastic tub and I dumped it in on top of the veg to continue thawing. About twenty minutes later, I added some chopped herbs, and Quite A Lot of chickpeas (I do tend to overestimate these things). Stirred it all round, added a splash of water and some salt and pepper, and left it for half an hour.

We snarfed huge bowlfuls for supper last night (with nothing else, it didn’t need it), and then we had slightly less huge bowlfuls for lunch today. And there’s enough left to – oh, I don’t know – possibly eat with a pitta or somesuch. I’ll work something out.

p.s. That tomato/wine sauce is a winner. I’m going to make more of that.