Recipe: Greek Braised Chickpeas

Cookbook

Greek Braised Chickpeas

Revithia Yahni

This lemony chickpea preparation from Greece is ideally served at room temperature. Although you can serve chickpeas as part of a meze, I have also served this recipe as an accompaniment to a braised lemony rabbit.

1/4 cup extra virgin olive oil
1/2 cup chopped onions
3 cups cooked chickpeas (two 15-ounce cans), drained
1 cup water
Salt and freshly ground black peper to taste
Freshly squeezed juice from 1 lemon
1 tablespoon all-purpose unbleached flour

1. Heat the olive oil in a medium skillet over high heat and cook the onion until some pieces are turning brown, 4 to 5 minutes, stirring occasionally. Add the drained chickpeas and water, season with salt and pepper, and cook for 5 minutes.

2. Meanwhile, in a small bowl, whisk together the lemon juice and flour until well blended and smooth. Whisk several tablespoons of the hot liquid from the chickpeas into the lemon-flour mixture until well blended. Pour this mixture back into the chickpeas, reduce the heat to low, and simmer until the water is nearly evaporated and the sauce has thickened, 1 to 1-1/4 hours. Turn the heat off and let the chickpeas cool in the skillet. Serve at room temperature or warm.

Buy the Book!

Mediterranean Vegetables
A Cook's ABC of Vegetables and
Their Preparation in Spain, France, Italy,
Greece, Turkey, the Middle East, and North Africa,
with More than 200 Authentic Recipes for the Home Cook
By Clifford A. Wright
Harvard Common Press, September 2001
Hardcover, $ 29.95
ISBN: 1-55832-196-9
Recipe reprinted by permission.