A lovely simple chick pea and pomegranate salad. Eat warm or at room temperature.
Ingredients (enough for three
people)
1 400g can of chickpeas / or
about 100g dry weight
1 Pomegranate - the seeds
3 tbsp of pomegranate molasses
(you can get it in Sainsbury’s / middle Eastern supermarket)
1 1/2 tsp of ground coriander
A large generous handful of
coriander chopped
2 tsp Asfur (saffron flower)
stirred in to 6 tbsp water or 2tsp of turmeric
1 tsp ground cumin
125 ml of cold water
Garlic – 3 cloves thinly sliced
Olive oil - 4 tbsp
salt and pepper
Firstly - if you are using dried
chickpeas soak them in cold water overnight with a pinch of bicarbonate of
soda. You then need to drain them and put them in two litres of cold water and
and bring to the boil. Reduce the heat and simmer for 2 hours skimming of the
scum (lovely!) or until they are soft. If you have a freezer you can boil a vat
of chickpeas, divide into portions of 400g cooked weight and freeze as the
dried are always better if you have the option but not the time.
When seeding a pomegranate I
normally cut it in half and then carefully pull it out in chunks peeling back
the skin. Juice will spray.
First of all put a saucepan on
medium heat and add the olive oil. Add the garlic and fry until light brown but
not burnt or it will be bitter. Add the chickpeas, ground coriander,
pomegranate molasses, water, asfur and simmer for ten minutes or until the
liquid has evaporated.
Season with salt and pepper, stir
in the pomegranate and the chopped coriander and serve. This goes well with
chicken, or lamb, or fish or by itself with some nice bread.