Rage Against the Stuffed Pepper

Crunchy Chickpea Pilaff

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Spicy, crunchy chickpeas round off a hearty rice dish. What’s not to love.

 

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Pilaff topped with spicy, crunchy chickpeas


Course Main Course
Cuisine Uzbek
Prep Time 30 minutes
Cook Time 2 hours
Total Time 2 hours 30 minutes
Servings 5

Ingredients

For the crunchy chickpea topping

  • 400 g can of chickpeas drained or 2 handfuls of dried chickpeas, soaked then boiled (see notes)
  • Glug olive oil
  • 1 teaspoon ground cumin
  • 1/2 teaspoon chili powder
  • 1/2 teaspoon ground coriander
  • 1/2 teaspoon salt

For the main dish

  • 500 g short grain rice (e.g. medium arborio or paella rice) - though I actually used basmati in the image in the picture as I did not have enough paella rice. Both work!
  • 500 g carrots
  • 2 medium onions
  • 1 tbsp cumin
  • 1/2 tbsp coriander seeds - toasted and ground
  • 1 head of garlic
  • 1 stock cube - or fresh stock. (Make up to 600ml)
  • 150 ml oil for frying
  • salt
  • Fresh parsley (optional)

To serve

  • Turkish yoghurt mixed with salt.

Instructions

First, make the crunchy chickpea topping

  1. Preheat oven to 200 degrees celcius (400F, Gas 6)
  2. Mix all of the ingredients for the chickpeas in a large bowl, then spread across a large baking sheet. make sure the chickpeas have ‘breathing room’ i.e are not touching, or they will not go crispy.
  3. Bake in the over for approximately 40 minutes or until crispy and brown.

Roast garlic

  1. While the chickpeas are roasting, wrap a garlic bulb in some tin foil and place on a lower shelf in the oven. This will help to soften it. Don’t forget to take it out when you remove your chickpeas.

  2. Remove the chickpeas and the garlic from the oven and set aside.

  3. Leave the oven on for the pilaff.

For the pilaff

  1. Rinse and soak your rice for at least 15 minutes.
  2. Cut carrots into chunky Julienne batons. Cut onions into rings.
  3. Add some oil to a dutch oven or thick bottomed, oven safe casserole dish.
  4. Make your stock.
  5. Fry the onions and the carrots until just starting to soften. Sprinkle in the ground spices and place in the oven. Cook for about 20 minutes, checking to make sure it’s not burning (Add a little stock if it looks like it is sticking).
  6. Add rice on top in a layer. Add stock until the rice is covered by about 2cm. Put lid back on the pan and return to the oven.
  7. Cook for about 25 minutes, adding the garlic in 10 minutes before the end of the cooking time. At this point, you can also check whether
  8. Serve with salted yoghurt, top with roasted garlic and a sprinkling of parsley if you have it.

Recipe Notes

If using dried chickpeas, prepare these well in advance - you will need to soak them overnight. See this post for tips.