Ottolenghi’s Chickpeas and Swiss Chard with Yogurt
Using canned chickpeas makes this an easy recipe — adapted from Ottolenghi Simple — a great choice for a weeknight dinner; it’s terrific when you’re looking for something meatless yet interesting and satisfying. Ottolenghi suggests serving this with steamed rice; I’d serve it with brown rice. He also mentions that you shouldn’t worry if you don’t have cilantro, as it “holds its own perfectly without.” I didn’t have any cilantro, so I subbed parlsey mixed with a few mint leaves, and that worked just fine — the dish was wonderful.
The author also mentions that you can make this up to 6 hours ahead up to the point in the last step where you stir in the lemon juice and yogurt.
Read our review of Ottolenghi Simple.
Serves 4 as a side dish, or 2 to 3 as a main course.
Ingredients
2 carrots, peeled and chopped in to ¾-inch/2 cm pieces
3 tablespoons olive oil, plus extra to serve
Salt and black pepper
1 large onion, finely chopped (1 ¼ cups / 180 g)
1 teaspoon caraway seeds
1 ½ teaspoon ground cumin
7 ounces / 200 g Swiss chard leaves, sliced into ½ inch / 1 cm strips
One 15.5 ounce/440 g can chickpeas, drained and rinsed
5 tablespoons / 75 ml water
1 lemon: juice half to get 1 tablespooon and cut the other half into 2 wedges, to serve
¼ cup / 70 g Greek-style yogurt
¼ cup / 5 g cilantro, roughly chopped (maybe substitute other herbs, such as parsley and mint)
Instructions
1. Heat the oven to 425 degrees. Mix the carrots with 1 tablespoon of the oil, ¼ teaspoon salt and a grind of pepper. Spread out on a parchment-lined baking sheet and roast for 20 minutes — they should still be a little crunchy.
2. Place the remaining 2 tablespoons of oil in a large frying pan, over medium heat, and add the onion, caraway and cumin. Fry for 10 minutes, stirring occasionally, until golden brown. Add the chard, cooked carrots, chickpeas, water, ½ teaspoon salt and a good grind of pepper and mix through. Cook for 5 minutes, until the chard leaves are soft and hardly any juice is left in the pan.
3. Remove from the heat, stir in the lemon juice, top with a generous spoonful of yogurt, a sprinkle of cilantro (or parsley and mint), a drizzle of oil, and a wedge of lemon and serve.
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Ottolenghi's Chickpeas and Swiss Chard with Yogurt
Ingredients
- 2 carrots, peeled and chopped in to ¾-inch/2 cm pieces
- 3 tablespoons olive oil, plus extra to serve
- Salt and black pepper
- 1 large onion, finely chopped (1 ¼ cups / 180 g)
- 1 teaspoon caraway seeds
- 1 ½ teaspoon ground cumin
- 7 ounces / 200 g Swiss chard leaves, sliced into ½ inch / 1 cm strips
- One 15.5 ounce/440 g can chickpeas, drained and rinsed
- 5 tablespoons / 75 ml water
- 1 lemon: juice half to get 1 tablespooon and cut the other half into 2 wedges, to serve
- ¼ cup / 70 g Greek-style yogurt
- ¼ cup / 5 g cilantro, roughly chopped (maybe substitute other herbs, such as parsley and mint)
Instructions
- Heat the oven to 425 degrees. Mix the carrots with 1 tablespoon of the oil, ¼ teaspoon salt and a grind of pepper. Spread out on a parchment-lined baking sheet and roast for 20 minutes — they should still be a little crunchy.
- Place the remaining 2 tablespoons of oil in a large frying pan, over medium heat, and add the onion, caraway and cumin. Fry for 10 minutes, stirring occasionally, until golden brown. Add the chard, cooked carrots, chickpeas, water, ½ teaspoon salt and a good grind of pepper and mix through. Cook for 5 minutes, until the chard leaves are soft and hardly any juice is left in the pan.
- Remove from the heat, stir in the lemon juice, top with a generous spoonful of yogurt, a sprinkle of cilantro (or parsley and mint), a drizzle of oil, and a wedge of lemon and serve.
