Garbancito, donde estas? Andalusian chickpeas and spinach
This is classic Andalusian dish and it's best served for adults, not blended, with crispy bread/toast and a runny fried/poached egg. Named after a Spanish traditional nursery story and an alternative to hommous. Chickpeas are amazing! They are rich in dietary fibre and provide a significant amount of essential vitamins and minerals such as iron, phosphate, calcium, magnesium, zinc and vitamin K. Chickpeas are a low-cost protein alternative to meat.
Ingredients
½ tsp cumin seeds
½ tsp paprika – pimenton paprika is the best, but standard (dulce) paprika with a pinch of chilli powder should work
70g fresh baby spinach
½ slice of white bread
1 garlic clove
400g tin of chickpeas in water (if in salt water check quantities!) – save the water!
2 tbsp olive oil
Method
1. Heat 1tbsp olive oil in a frying pan add bread and lightly brown both sides. Remove from pan.
2. Add spinach and wilt (heat for around 30 seconds), crush garlic clove and add spices, take off heat and cook for 10-20 seconds in residual heat.
3. Put pan back on heat and add chickpeas with 1 tbsp of the water from the chickpeas. Stir and heat for around a minute gently, stirring.
4. To make the spread, wait for ingredients to cool, pop in blender with the fried bread and 1tbsp olive oil and 1tbsp of water from the chickpeas and blend till smooth. If you want it smoother add more water/oil. Alternatively, for grown-ups serve not blended, with crispy bread and a poached or fried egg. Delicious!
Tip
I often make this the day before, once hubby gets home and I can use the blender, I pull out my portion before blending, and I prep a poached egg – make a poached egg and pop it a container with cold water in the fridge, when your ready pop the egg in boiling water for a minute or so. This then removes the stress of trying to cook a runny egg with a little one banging the highchair table in the kitchen demanding food! You can further beef up grown up versions with chorizo too (too salty for little ones) – just pop it in after you take little ones out. Of course you will have to judge oil/water when blending if you have taken a lot of the mixture out for yourself.
You can serve this on bread/rice cake etc with an omelette, or boiled egg for little one for little one. To freeze pop a portion in a freezer container and cover with a little olive oil. Defrost in fridge overnight and mix oil in once defrosted. The oil helps it not take too much moisture from the freezer and keeps it fresher. You can keep it in fridge for up to 3 days.
Facts
Chickpeas are amazing! They are rich in dietary fibre and provide a significant amount of essential vitamins and minerals such as iron, phosphate, calcium, magnesium, zinc and vitamin K. Chickpeas are a low-cost protein alternative to meat. That's why the peasants and gypsy flamenco dancers in Spain were so strong! And they even have a nursery story about them “¡Garbancito!, ¿dónde estás?”