Peru – Garbanzo con Acelga ~ Chickpeas and Swiss Chard Stew

Today we are traveling to western South American country of Peru. Peru is home to ancient cultures and one of the oldest in the world. It was a Spanish colony until it got its independence in 1821. The capital is Lima. Mining, manufacturing, agriculture and fishing is the main economy of the country.

The cuisine of the country is influenced by the locals and the immigrants from Europe, Asia and West Africa. It is a blend of native American, Spanish cooking and is influenced by Japanese, Chinese, African, Arabic and Italian cooking. Corn, potatoes & tubers, legumes and seafood are staple food.

Before I go to today’s recipe, a gentle reminded about a food event I am hosting. Food of the World is an event I will be co-hosting every month and this month the country we are visiting is Peru. If you happen to cook any Peruvian food this month, please join us by adding your recipes using the linky tool here. I cooked P for Peru even before I decided to host Food of the World. When I realized the theme for this month is Peru, I contemplated using today’s recipe for that event announcement and cooking something else for P. I even shorted listed a few recipes from Portugal. After cooking so many international recipes, I did not want to experiment any more new recipes and made a simple easy lima beans salad for Food of the World and saved this recipe for Around the World with ABC Cooking.

Coming to today’s recipe, it is garbanzo Swiss chard stew. Legumes and vegetables are staple in Peruvian cuisine. This stew is prepared with chickpeas, swiss chards and chorizo. This stew is served with rice and is similar to a curry, though the flavor is different. This is a wholesome stew that goes well with rice. Mr.U did not comment on the taste but when asked if he would eat this if I made it again, he said yes. Here is the recipe.

Source: Provecho Peru
Total Time: 1 hour
Preparation: 30 minutes (for cooking chickpeas and excludes the time to soak chickpeas)
Cooking Time: 30
Serves: 3

Ingredients:

• ½ cup ~ 100grams dry Chickpeas or Garbanzo Beans
• 1 tsp. Oil
• ½ small Onion finely diced
• 1 tsp. crushed Garlic
• 2 fresh Chorizo Sausages approx. 225 grams ~ ½ lb., casing removed and crumbled (I could not find fresh turkey sausage and used pork instead)
• ¼ tsp. Dry Oregano
• ¼ – ½ tsp. Black Pepper
• ½ tsp. Chili Powder
• 1 – 1 ½ tsp. Salt
• 1 ½ cup Water
• 3 tbsp. Tomato Paste
• 1 ½ – 2 cups chopped Green Swiss Chard

Preparation:

• Wash and soak garbanzo beans for 5 ½ – 8 hours or overnight. I forgot to soak the beans ahead of time and let it soak for 5 ½ hours. Change the water and cook it in fresh water until tender. On a stovetop it took about 25 – 30 minutes. Alternatively, it can be pressure cooked.
• Let the beans cool and remove the skin of the garbanzo beans. The easiest way is to pinch the beans between the thumb and pointer finger. The skin will peel off. Removing the skin is optional but I liked peeled chickpeas.
• In a deep skillet, heat oil and sauté onions until translucent.
• Add crumbled sausage and cook until sausage is almost cooked, about 5 minutes.
• Add oregano, salt, pepper and stir to combine. Add tomato paste and give it a good stir. Sauté for few minutes until the paste blends well into the crumbled sausage and begins to simmer.
• Add water, chickpeas and simmer until sauce thickens a bit, about 10 – 20 minutes.
• Add Swiss chard, cover and let the chard wilt a bit, for about a minute. Stir the stew and simmer for few minutes until the greens are cooked.
• Serve hot with rice.

Note:

• I cooked the chickpeas ~ garbanzo beans on stove top. A tip from the author of the recipe which I would like to try is to “place the dry beans in the slow cooker, pour boiling water over them, and cook on low for 8 hours overnight. This way, beans ready to go the next morning. “
• I used about 1 ½ – 2 cups of chopped Swiss chard and felt I could have added more.
• We like more meat so I added about ½ lb. of chorizo but ¼ lb. would also suffice. It just depends on how you want your stew. I added more chorizo and less chickpeas.
• This recipe is so versatile that chickpeas, chorizo and Swiss chards can be adjusted to one’s preference.

This day in 2008 – Vegetable Omelet

Check out the Blogging Marathon page for the other Blogging Marathoners doing BM# 44