Chicken and chickpeas, both of them together or individually are ingredients that I like in almost every form.This was probably why these ingredients were featured in my mother's cookbook. When you grow up in a house with four siblings and two working parents, cooking daily meals to everyone’s taste is almost impossible. Therefore, when there were ingredients that we all loved, mom would use them time and again. Since she didn’t have the time to cook dishes that required fancy preparations, she’d find ways to create new and interesting dishes from the same old ingredients, yet keep them simple and easy to cook, using as few pots as possible. In the days she’d prepare chicken in chickpeas all she had to add was a pot of rice. We wouldn’t have eaten anything else anyways.
Ingredients
8 chicken thighs
1 onion diced
3 garlic cloves minced
1 red hot pepper seeded and sliced (optional)
3 dried lemons cut into halves
2 cups chickpeas cooked
2 tomatoes diced
1 cup tomato sauce
1 tsp sweet paprika
1 tsp paprika
1 tsp cumin
1 tsp turmeric
½ tsp cardamom
¼ tsp cloves
1 TBS sugar
Heat olive oil in a deep pan or pot over high heat. Sprinkle salt and pepper on the chicken thighs. When the oil is hot place the thighs in the pan and fry to golden, about 3 minutes each side. Remove chicken from the pan and set aside. Onto the same pan add onion and fry to golden. Add garlic, red hot pepper and dried lemon, mix and fry one more minute. Add all other ingredients besides cilantro and water and mix well. Return the chicken to the pan, sprinkle the cilantro over it and add water to cover. Bring to boil, lower heat, cover and cook one and a half hours.
