Excerpted from “Dinner in an Instant” by Melissa Clark
Full of spices, fresh ginger, and sweet dried apricots, this is a spunky and highly fragrant stew. The kale gives it enough vegetable matter to make it a one-pot meal, and the chickpeas are velvety and satisfying. If you don’t have preserved lemons, season this with plenty of fresh lemon juice to balance the sweetness of the cinnamon and apricots.
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MOROCCAN CHICKPEAS AND KALE
3 tablespoons olive oil
2 Spanish onions, chopped
1 fennel bulb, diced (save the fronds for garnish)
1 large jalapeño pepper, seeded if desired, chopped
4 garlic cloves, minced
1 teaspoon grated peeled fresh ginger
2 1/2 teaspoons kosher salt, plus more to taste
1 teaspoon ground turmeric
1 teaspoon sweet paprika
3/4 teaspoon ground cinnamon
1/2 teaspoon ground cumin
1/2 teaspoon freshly ground black pepper
Pinch of cayenne pepper
2 tablespoons tomato paste
1 pound dried chickpeas
1 bunch fresh kale, stems discarded, leaves torn into bite-size pieces, about 5 cups
2/3 cup diced dried apricots
2 tablespoons chopped preserved lemon, or more to taste
1/2 cup chopped fresh cilantro, plus more for garnish
Using the sauté function, heat the oil in the pressure cooker. Add the onions, fennel and jalapeño and sauté until soft, about 10 minutes. Add the garlic, ginger, salt, turmeric, paprika, cinnamon, cumin, black pepper and cayenne and sauté until they release their fragrance, about 2 minutes. Add the tomato paste and sauté for another minute, until darkened but not burned. (If the tomato paste turns too dark too quickly, turn off the heat.)
Add the chickpeas and 5 1/2 cups of water. Cover, and cook on high pressure for 50 minutes; then let the pressure release naturally. If the chickpeas aren’t cooked through, cook on high pressure for 5 minutes, then manually release the pressure.
Stir in the kale, apricots and preserved lemon. Using the sauté function, simmer until the kale is wilted, about 5 minutes. Stir in cilantro. Season with more salt if desired, and serve garnished with more cilantro and reserved fennel fronds.
Makes 6-8 servings.
SOURCE: “Dinner in an Instant” by Melissa Clark. Published by Clarkson Potter/Publishers, an imprint of Penguin Random House, LLC
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