This slow cooker recipe from Whole Foods caught my eye but I have a slight slow cooker problem…I don’t have one. People were surely making chickpea stew before the invention of slow cookers though, so I thought I would give it a try, and I’m so happy I did. It is delicious. Here’s the original recipe and below it I’ll list my modifications, which were plentiful.
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| Bad picture of yummy stew |
- 2 tablespoons extra virgin olive oil*
- 1 medium yellow onion, chopped
- 1 chile pepper, such as serrano or jalapeno, stemmed, seeded and chopped, more to taste
- 4 cloves garlic, chopped
- 2 teaspoons garam masala
- 1/4 cup sesame seeds
- 2 cans garbanzo beans (chickpeas)*, drained and rinsed
- 1/2 cup dried red lentils
- 1 can tomato puree
- 2 cups vegetable broth
- 1/4 cup pitted black olives
- 1/2 cup yogurt
Heat olive oil in a pan and sauté the onions. Add peppers, garlic, garam masala and sesame seeds and cook until peppers begin to soften. Combine everything except the yogurt in the slow cooker and cook on low 8 to 10 hours. Add yogurt about 15 minutes before serving.
I added a chopped leek (it was a giant!) and one chopped carrot and left out the olives and yogurt. I used diced tomatoes because I couldn’t find puree (14.5 oz can.)
For serving it I got naan for the rest of the family but put layered it on top of fresh spinach on a warmed corn tortilla for myself. I might add a dollop of yogurt on top of the stew next time, but really it doesn’t need anything~ it is stewiliciously good. It tastes like Indian food but is not spicy at all. Seriously, not at all~ despite the warming garam masala, the garlic nor the big old hatch pepper I used, so next time I might add another pepper such as jalapeno as they suggest. This was easy and I imagine it’d be even easier with a slow cooker, though I’m just not convinced it’d really improve our family’s life at all. (If anyone wants to convince me otherwise, I’m open to changing my mind…)
I added a chopped leek (it was a giant!) and one chopped carrot and left out the olives and yogurt. I used diced tomatoes because I couldn’t find puree (14.5 oz can.)
For serving it I got naan for the rest of the family but put layered it on top of fresh spinach on a warmed corn tortilla for myself. I might add a dollop of yogurt on top of the stew next time, but really it doesn’t need anything~ it is stewiliciously good. It tastes like Indian food but is not spicy at all. Seriously, not at all~ despite the warming garam masala, the garlic nor the big old hatch pepper I used, so next time I might add another pepper such as jalapeno as they suggest. This was easy and I imagine it’d be even easier with a slow cooker, though I’m just not convinced it’d really improve our family’s life at all. (If anyone wants to convince me otherwise, I’m open to changing my mind…)
spice of life blog 