Chickpea and beef stew

Being curious with beans, I decided to check out chickpea. I'd heard that it's used to make hummus. That's something I'd try out one day. I like chickpea's interesting taste, which matches very well with seasoned meat. I always soak beans overnight. Most beans require more than 1 day of soaking. But chickpea seems to be good enough with just one day. Moreover, it also cooks faster than many other types of legumes, though not as fast as lentils. 8 oz of dried chickpea, after thoroughly soaked, takes only 1 hour of low heat to cook to complete melting type of softness. That's "fast". Alternatively, when I want to cook it in the same day, I just boil dried chickpea for a few minutes and let it soak in hot water for 2 hours. The chickpea softens quickly after reheating. However, it feels more "chalky" when cooked this way.


Recipe: Chickpea and beef stew (for 2)


Ingredients:
- 4 oz minced beef, 90% lean
- 1 cup chickpea, soaked and boiled until soft
- 1/2 cup liquid from boiling the chickpea
- 1 clove garlic, finely chopped
- 2 teaspoons (tp) rosemary grilling oil
- 1/2 cup red wine
- 2 tp of mixed herbs of oregano, basil, thyme, marjoram, rosemary, savory
- 1 tp paprika
- 1/4 tp salt
- 1/4 tp sugar
- dash of pepper

Procedure:

Brown beef in a sauce pan with garlic and rosemary grilling oil on medium heat. When browned, add mixed herbs, salt, sugar and pepper. Let heat for a minute or so, until the aroma of the herbs come out. Then add red wine. When the liquid boils, add in chickpea, the liquid from boiling the chickpea and paprika. Mix and let cook on low heat for 5-10 minutes. Turn heat off and allow to keep warm for 30 minutes so that the flavor of the juice is absorbed by the chickpea. Reheat briefly when served.

This dish is so tasty!!