Potaje (chickpea stew with bread dumplings)

 

A simple, hearty and filling chickpea stew with spongy and flavoursome homemade bread dumplings.


Hola!

A chickpea stew (potaje de garbanzos) is one of the classic legume stews from Spain. Each family has their own variations, but if chorizo or blood sausage is not added, it is commonly a vegan recipe. Vegetarian, if hard-boiled egg is used, like my family does.

Something I love about this stew is the bread dumplings that my iaia used to make. Without them it would be nice, but a no for me. I like to have a bite of dumpling with each chickpea spoonful. These dumplings she used to make are vegetarian, but nothing I cannot fix.

PLANT-POWER, MAKE UP!

The original dumplings are made of bread, cow’s milk, an egg and other ingredients. The milk is always an easy swap by any other unsweetened plant milk. The egg acts as a binding agent, so in the spirit of reducing waste, the aquafaba from the chickpea came in handy. Aquafaba is the liquid in legumes in water and it has similar properties and composition as eggs. My iaia would dip the raw dumplings in egg whites and fry them in a lot of oil, but nowadays we can use an air frier.


POTAJE (CHICKPEA STEW WITH BREAD DUMPLINGS)


Serves: 4 people
Prep: 20 minutes
Cook: 30 minutes
Bake: 40 minutes


INGREDIENTS

Dumplings

1/4 cup aquafaba (the liquid from a whole jar of chickpeas)
2 garlic cloves, peeled and minced
40g parsley, chopped
8 wholemeal sandwich bread slices
1/4 cup unsweetened soya milk
2 tbsp. pine nuts
1/2 tsp. baking powder
Salt and pepper

Stew

1 big onion, peeled, chopped
2 ripe tomatoes, pulp grated
2 garlic cloves, peeled and minced
1 big potato, peeled and chopped
1 tsp. sweet paprika
4 cans chickpeas in water
1.5l veg stock
200g baby spinach
Salt and pepper


INSTRUCTIONS

  1. To make the dumplings, drain the chickpea cans and collect the aquafaba with a strainer. Set the chickpeas aside.
  2. Put all the dumpling ingredients into a big bowl, including the aquafaba, and mix well until a dough is formed. Split it into 8 balls, flattening them slightly so that they bake through. Bake in the air frier/oven for 30 minutes at 180°C, spraying some olive oil over both sides, and turning them around halfway through. Set aside and leave for later.
  3. In the meantime, start making the stew by frying the onion over a medium-high heat for around 5 minutes or until the onion is translucent, adding salt and pepper.
  4. Make space in the middle of the pan, add a bit of oil, and when hot, add the tomato pulp and chopped garlic. Season again and cook until the tomato goes orange and the garlic is fragrant (1-2 minutes). Add the paprika and stir for 1 minute, then add the chopped potato, the two bay leaves, chickpeas and the veg stock. Bring to a boil and simmer for another 10 minutes. Add the spinach and cook for another 5 minutes or until the veg is soft. Remove the two bay leaves.
  5. Serve the stew with the dumplings on top so that they soak the stock in. If you are batch cooking or eating later, keep the dumplings in the fridge separately.

You can keep this in the fridge for 5 days. You can also freeze it and keep in the freezer for up to a year. If you made double the dumplings, freeze separately from the stew.

Bon profit!