The wonderfully versatile chickpea is mainly known in the Middle East for its use in delicious, creamy hummus and for the adornment of rice dishes. A batch of chickpeas are often soaked overnight and boiled next day to add them to a curry or stew. They go particularly well with lamb. But when they are finally cooked and drained and have that luscious soft texture, add a glug of olive oil, a dash of salt, and some freshly milled pepper, and savour them while they are nice and hot. Here is a tasty Punjabi salad, made unique with the addition of anardana – the dried seeds and flesh of the pomegranate.
Ingredients:
• 150g dried chickpeas, soaked overnight in slightly salted water
• 2 small red onions, chopped finely
• 1 medium sized red pepper, chopped finely
• 1 small potato cubed and boiled [optional]
• 1 medium tomato, finely diced [optional]
• 1 tsp pomegranate seeds (anardana*) coarsely ground
• 1 tsp black pepper coarsely ground
• 1 tsp fennel seeds
• A pinch each of salt and sugar
• 1 tsp lemon or lime juice
Preparation:
Bring the chickpeas to a boil in plenty of slightly salted water and simmer until soft – around one hour. Leave to cool. In a separate bowl, mix together all of the other ingredients in the list, up to the fennel seeds. Add salt and sugar, and then mix them again. Before serving, squeeze some fresh lime over the salad. Use fresh pomegranate seeds for a lovely, sweet zing!
Anardana is available in Indian stores in a dried and powdered form, but it’s relatively easy to make your own from fresh pomegranates. In the warmer months leave the fresh seeds outside on a tray for 24 hours or so, in winter just bake the seeds in an oven at a moderate temperature for 30 minutes. Remove them and leave them to cool. Then, pound them roughly with a pestle or mortar.
Recipe by Mike Harrison. Published in Times of Oman’s June 2013 edition of Art of Cooking
