Greek chickpea stew in tomato salsa (sofrito)
Ingredients
- 1 brown onion (diced)
- 3 garlic cloves (crushed)
- 3/4 jars cherry tomatoes pasta sauce (eg. scala)
- 2 fresh tomatoes (chopped)
- 1 large red capsicum (diced)
- 2 tablespoons parsley (chopped)
- 2 tablespoons mint (chopped)
- 2 tablespoons dill (chopped)
- 1/2 teaspoon cinnamon (optiona, but goes well with tomato and mint and adds more flavour)
- 1-2 cup hot water
- 2 massel stock cubes
- 1 can chickpeas (or soak. 1cup dried chickpeas overnight in 3 cups water, drain and boil in 1 litre fresh water until soft, about 45 min)
- 1/3 cup EV olive oil
- 1 cup spinach leaves (optional)
Instructions
- Heat the oil in a large heavy-based saucepan. Add the onion, garlic, capsicums. Simmer for 10min on medium heat until onions have softened. Add tomatoes and simmer for 10min.
- Add pasta sauce, hot water, stock cubes. Simmer for 10minutes.
- Add fresh herbs and cinnamon. Simmer sauce until components look cooked (about 10min).
- Stir through cooked chickpeas (and spinach) and simmer for a few minutes until sauce has fully coated chickpeas. Add more water if stew is too thick.
- Serve as a main meal with fetta cheese or cottage cheese or boiled eggs or as a side dish with meat or chicken or sardines/fish.
This salsa can be used will all types of legumes. You can also add fresh green beans and potatoes to make a traditional Greek bean stew or you can pour salsa over vegetables (chunks of zucchini, eggplant, carrot, capsicum, potatoes) and roast them in oven to make ratatouille.