These chicks (chickpeas, that is) are ready to go!
Quick and easy - that's been my mantra lately.
I refuse to reduce my diet to what I am able to pick up at the drive through of a fast food restaurant because we are always on the road. At least a couple of meals a day have to be taken at home. This is mostly because I believe that my continued good health requires that I not fill myself with a steady stream of unidentified foods or chemicals I can't pronouce. It's also because my limited pecuniary resources would not hold out were I to eat on the run on a regular basis.
So, with a bit of creativity and a tight budget, I make my own fast food and run on to the next meeting or activity.
You can eat well for just a small amount of money...with a very tiny investment of time as well.
Ready...cook...go!
Chick Pea Pilaf
1 cup of rice1 bay leaf
1 garlic clove, thinly sliced
A pinch of thyme
1 15 ounce can of tomatoes drained and chopped
1 15 ounce can of chickpeas, drained and rinsed
Salt and pepper, to taste
2 cups of vegetable stockParsely, chopped (for garnish)
- Melt the butter in a heavy pot with the bay leaf, garlic and thyme. Add the tomatoes and cook over medium heat, stirring and breaking up the tomatoes.
- Add the chickpeas and continue cooking until the tomato mixture cooks down into a thick paste (about 20 minutes).
- Add the stock to the tomatoes and chickpeas and season to taste with salt and pepper.
- Bring the whole lot to a boil and add the rice.
- Cover and reduce the heat to low and cook for about 20 minutes.
- Turn off heat and let the rice sit undisturbed for half an hour.
- Remove the bay leaf.
- Fluff with a fork and add the parsley.
