Supposedly Chickpea Stew

As some of you may have noticed, Blogger was down for a few dozen hours this week. I'd like to say that's why this post is so late coming to you but truly, I made it last Saturday, I'm just lazy. Well, that and I took up knitting for the fourth or so time. A friend of mine is worried that my "Martha Stewart kick" is going to result in me dropping out of medical school and marrying myself off to some frat bro type to cook and bake and knit and child-rear my way into old age. I assure you all, that isn't going to happen.

Chickpea Soup
Adapted from Super Natural Every Day.

2 tbsp olive oil
1 large yellow onion, finely chopped
salt
15 oz/3 cups chickpeas, canned or cooked*
4 cups veggie or chicken broth*
3 cloves garlic, finely chopped
2 pinches saffron
1 cup plain yogurt
sweet paprika
fresh cilantro, chopped

I cooked my chickpeas with half a chopped onion to help impart flavor.

In a pot you think will accommodate all of the preceding ingredients, heat olive oil and add onions and a few big pinches of salt (about 1/2 tbsp if you want to measure it). Cook until the onions are softened. Stir in chickpeas, broth, and garlic. *If you're going with canned, skip the rest of this aside. If you want to cook your own, you'll need to soak about 1.5 cups  of dried chickpeas in a large bowl with several inches of water above them at least four hours, but preferably overnight, before draining them. After draining, place in a large pot with a three to one or four to one ratio of water to peas and ample salt. Cook until desired firmness; mine went about 45 minutes and were the consistency you'd find from chickpeas at a salad bar. I'd recommend letting them go longer since they're going to go straight into the stew and softer would be better.

Once the peas are added to the oil and onion vessel, bring the mixture to a simmer. Remove from heat.

In a medium bowl, whisk saffron and egg yolks. Whisk in saffron. Slowly add 1 cup of the broth mixture to the yogurt-yolk bowl, stirring constantly. Very slowly whisk this back into the pot of soup. Return the pot to medium heat and cook, stirring continuously for about 5 more minutes without allowing the broth to quite simmer. Stop stirring when it hits the consistency of heavy cream, supposedly. I say supposedly because mine never quite got there and stirred that fucker for a good 15 minutes before abandoning it.

Ladle into individual bowls and add as much paprika as you like with as much cilantro as you like.

Notes

• Yes, it really is important that you go slowly when I mention going slowly. You're trying to temper the egg yolks so you don't wind up cooking them apart from the rest of the stew and ending up with scrambled yolks in the middle of everything. Gross.
• I happen to be a fan of thick soups (and, in general, thicker everything) and this wasn't as thick as I wanted it to be. In an attempt to remedy that I spun a bowlful through my blender, but don't do that. The ground chickpeas just manage to dull the flavor of the broth which is quite good when left alone.
• You can use water instead of broth, but I heard somewhere (it might have been from Emeril) that you should never add water to something when it came be something else that besides imparting moisture can also impart flavor. It's a rule that makes sense so it's worth heeding. I think vegetable broth tastes like ass so I used chicken, but you do your thing.
• If you buy plain yogurt just for this recipe but then have nothing to do with it, stick it in the freezer. It'll keep there for a long while and it's one of those ingredients that I find myself having to re-purchase again and again because I don't eat it on its own and it keeps going bad. This will save you some money and perhaps some trips to the store next time.
• "Saffron is fucking expensive, do I really need it?" If you're going to make this, I think so. The broth was definitely delicious because of the saffron. But at something like $16/bottle, I wouldn't be at all offended if you skipped this recipe. If there's a flavor you think you could substitute that you really love, go for it and let me know how it turns out.

Cost

• This made about six servings for me but cost an assload because of the saffron: about $5/bowl.
• Not including cooking the chickpeas separately, this takes about 30-40 minutes to put together which really isn't bad. Double or triple that if you're making your own chickpeas, not including their soaking time.

How was it? Good, but not great. If you're a huge fan of chickpeas though I think it'd be worth it to try this one out. If you're not, save the money.