Chickpeas and wild rice with tomatoes

CHICKPEAS AND WILD RICE WITH TOMATOES

 

This is one of those really great recipes.  It tastes wonderful, but it’s simple, inexpensive, easy to cook and uses food that you - or at any rate I - always have to hand.  To me, it’s so delicious that it’s fit for a celebration or to give to guests. I love it, and every time I make it, I only wish that I’d made twice as much!  

 

If you don't have wild rice on board, or it's beyond your budget, substitute your normal brown.  It will still make a lovely meal.

 

serves 2

 

Ingredients

 

1 onion, chopped

2 tbsp olive oil (preferably from a jar of sun-dried tomatoes in olive oil)

1/2 cup rice

1/4 cup wild rice

2½ cups water

1/2 cup chickpeas, soaked

1 tsp Annie's Mixed Herbs or a handful of chopped parsley

 1/2 tsp (heaped) Annie's Seasoned Salt

400 g/14 oz can tomatoes*

1 garlic clove

 cracked black pepper

 

Method:

• Heat the oil in the pressure cooker and add the chopped onion. Cook for a few minutes until softened and transparent.
• Add the rice and wild rice and cook for a further 5 minutes, stirring frequently until the grains of rice become opaque.
• Pour in the water and bring to the boil. Add the chickpeas and the dried mixed herbs (if you're using fresh parsley, keep this until the end). Stir well and put the lid on the pressure cooker. Bring up to pressure and cook for 15 minutes.
• Reduce pressure at room temperature. Add the salt. Dice the garlic and add to the pan.
• Drain the tomatoes and put the juice aside for another recipe. Add the tomatoes to the pressure cooker and chop them very roughly with your spoon – they should stay in big chunks.
• Season generously with pepper, check the salt and reheat, with the lid on, over a low flame. 
• If you are using fresh parsley, chop this finely and mix it through before serving.

Note:

• If you're somewhere that tomatoes are affordable, this is a good meal to use them, so that you don't have to store the juice.  Peel them first, if you want to and cut them in quarters or eighths, depending on how big they are.  I can't suggest how many to use, but cut up, they would measure a generous cup and a half.
• Fresh parsley truly enhances this dish.

You will find many more rice recipes here

Chickpea and wild rice pilaf

Depending on the type, it is not always as easy to get dry rice, with the separate grains that is best for a pilaf with brown rice, but I much prefer it to white. However, if you use brown basmati rice, you will get perfect results.

 

In this recipe, I use 30% wild rice. I’m sure you could use 100%, but suspect that it would be a little overpowering, to say nothing of being wildly extravagant. This pilaf usually seems popular and to me, has an "authentic" taste (although I doubt it has!). Don’t be put off by the long list of ingredients: it’s actually very straightforward to make and even good enough for entertaining!

 

Serves 2

 

Ingredients

 

8 dried apricots

6 dates

2 tbsp raisins

1 onion

2 garlic cloves

1/2 cup brown (basmati) rice

1/4 cup wild rice

6 cardamom pods

1/2 tsp cumin

1/2 tsp coriander

1/2 tsp cinnamon/1 ½ cups water

3 tbsp pine nuts

1/4 cup boiling water

1 red pepper, chopped

1/2 tsp dried mint

1/2 cup chickpeas, soaked and cooked

salt and pepper

 

Method:

• Slice the apricots and chop the dates. Put them in a bowl with the raisins and pour over 1/4 cup boiling water. This will make them plump up.
• Slice the onion and then cut the slices in half; chop the garlic.
• Put them into a saucepan, together with the rice, seeds from the cardamom pods, cumin, coriander and cinnamon.
• Pour in the water. (If your lid doesn’t fit very well, add an extra 1/2 cup.)/Bring to the boil and then turn down the heat; leave it simmering for 40 minutes. Toast the pine nuts in a dry frying pan, under a grill, or on a tray in the oven. Keep an eye on them : they burn very easily.
• When the rice is almost cooked, add the dried fruit and any liquid, along with the red pepper, mint and drained chickpeas. If it all looks too dry, add a little more water.
• Cook until everything is heated through and the flavours have combined.
• Serve sprinkled with the pine nuts.

Variations:

• Instead of pine nuts, you could use either chopped cashews or almonds. If you can’t afford any of them, the pilaf will still taste fine.
• If you can lay hands on a bunch of flat-leaved parsley, add a generous amount of this, roughly chopped, right at the end of the cooking time. Don’t be tempted to substitute fresh coriander – it will tend to overpower the rather delicate flavour of this pilaf.
• Use the chickpeas to make falafel (either the 'real way', with ground soaked chickpeas, or the phoney way, with cooked ones) and serve these on top of the pilaf, perhaps with some yoghurt or tahini sauce.

You will find many more rice recipes here