Spanish Chickpea and Spinach Stew With An Indian Twist / Fusion Fiesta

Chickpea and Spinach Stew or garbanzos con espinacas is a popular Spanish dish . It makes a delicious nourishing and satisfying meal. This gluten-free and vegan dish is very easy and quick to cook and is perfect for lunch or dinner. Fusion cooking is using the old familiar recipes and changing the spices, even main ingredients and cooking methods to come up with a very similar dish which may taste similar or look similar to the original ethic dish. Here i have cooked a Spanish chickpea and spinach stew with an Indian twist. 

This week for our#116th #FoodieMondayBlogHop , it was Malliaka's turn to choose the theme. Mallaika Chaudhary is a talented blogger who blogs at A Foodie Housewife  . She chose a very interesting theme #FusionFiesta. The idea is to fuse Indian food with different international cuisines. Fusion Fiesta of Indian food with an uncommon international cuisines, for fun of it and to be creative we decided to leave out the Indo-Chinese, Indo-Italian and Indo-Mexican that are very common in our households. I chose to cook Spanish Chickpea and Spinach Stew with an Indian twist. The reason for choosing this dish was that i wanted to cook a vegetarian main dish with readily available ingredients in our kitchen pantries and something we could relate to our Indian cooking. I adapted the recipe from Lazycatkitchen.com . 

The original recipe called for use of smoked paprika which is characteristic ingredient of Spanish cuisine. I used Kashmiri red chili powder instead of it and used some of our whole spices in the recipe to give it an Indian touch. The stew has a simple onion tomato base. The recipe called for use of baby spinach. I have used entire small tender spinach leaves, you may chop the spinach if the leaves are big. The dish came out very well, and my little one who would otherwise not eat spinach in curries , finished his meal and that too with a spark in his eyes. I paired the stew with our all time favourite Jeera Rice. Though you can have it as a soup or pair it even with any of Indian flat bread. The stew is mildly spiced, sweet and tangy all in one go and i am sure this dish will make it presence in our lunch menu often :) If you have cooked chickpeas, the whole dish is ready under 20 minutes. 

Preparation Time: 8 hours

Cooking Time: 30 minutes

Servings: 3-4

Ingredients:

• 1 cup chickpea / kabuli chana
• 1 cup Spinach leaves (preferably tender leaves)
• 2 onions finely chopped
• 2 tomatoes finely chopped
• 3-4 garlic cloves minced or finely chopped
• 1/2 inch ginger root
• 2 bay leaves
• 1/2 teaspoon of carom seeds
• 1/4 teaspoon cumin seeds
• 1/4 teaspoon turmeric powder
• 1/2 teaspoon cumin coriander powder
• 1 teaspoon Kashmiri red chili powder
• 1 teaspoon sugar (adjust as per taste)
• Salt to taste
• 2 tablespoon oil
• 1 teaspoon freshly crushed black pepper powder
• 1 teaspoon lemon juice (optional)

Method:

1. Rinse and soak the chickpeas is enough water for 6-8 hours. Drain and add the soaked chickpeas with 3 cups of water , carom seeds, 1 bay leaf and salt to taste in a pressure cooker. Pressure cook for 2-3 whistles or until done. The chickpeas should be soft but not mushy and should hold their shape.

  2. Once the pressure is released, drain the chickpeas and reserve the stock . We will be using the stock in the stew.

  3. In a wok or sauce pan, heat oil . Add cumin seeds and bay leaf. Once the seeds crackle, add the minced or finely chopped garlic and ginger and stir fry until the raw smell is gone.

  4. Add chopped onions and saute until it turns translucent. Now add the chopped tomatoes. Saute them until mushy.

  5. Next add the spice powders ( turmeric powder, Kashmiri red chili powder, cumin-coriander powder) salt and sugar. (be careful while adding salt , as we have already added salt while cooking the chickpeas). Stir fry for 1 minute before adding the cooked chickpeas. Stir fry the chickpeas in spices for 1-2 minute.

  6. Add the stock we reserved. Let it boil. Next add the washed spinach leaves and cover cook the stew on medium flame until the spinach leaves wilt. 

  7. Lastly add freshly crushed black pepper powder and lemon juice and put off the flame. Serve piping hot .

 Sending this recipe to #116th #FoodieMondayBlogHop where the theme for this week is #FusionFiesta .Check out my fellow bloggers post as well for some innovative fusion recipes.

  For more fusion recipes , do check my post on

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