Recipe: Braised chickpeas with sumac greens

These soupy chickpeas from The Levantine Vegetarian are the pinaccle of comfort food with a Middle-Eastern flavour

This is the only recipe in the book for which I insist you prepare dried chickpeas. When doing so, the starchy cooking water magically thickens when you stir in the cheese – you won’t achieve a similar result with canned or jarred chickpeas.

I use a microplane to grate the Parmesan-style cheese as fine as possible. You may be tempted to switch to a larger size, but the small pieces of cheese melt evenly into the soup.

Serves 6

Ingredients

For the chickpeas

• 350g dried chickpeas
• 1tsp fine salt
• 1tsp bicarbonate of soda

For the stew

• 5tbs extra-virgin olive oil
• 1 head garlic, cloves separated, peeled and finely chopped
• 3 fresh bay leaves
• ½tsp black pepper
• 2tsp Aleppo pepper or
• ½tsp chilli flakes
• ½tsp bicarbonate of soda
• 1tbs salt
• 150g cold butter, cut into cubes
• 140g finely grated Parmesan-style cheese

For the sumac greens

• 1tbs extra-virgin olive oil
• 150g cabbage, kale or spinach, shredded
• 2tsp sumac
• Salt and black pepper
• Juice of ½ lemon

Method

Prepare the chickpeas. In a large bowl, combine all the ingredients. Add three times the volume of water, then set aside to soak overnight.

The next day, make the stew. Preheat the oven to 160°C. Heat five tablespoons of the oil in a large casserole over medium-low heat. Add the garlic, bay leaves, black pepper and Aleppo pepper and sauté for two minutes, until deeply fragrant and the garlic begins to turn golden.

Drain and rinse the chickpeas, then add to the pan. Pour in 1.2 litres water. Stir in the bicarbonate of soda and salt. Cover, then bring to a boil. Stir again, then cover. Transfer to the oven and cook for two hours, until very tender. In eight additions, add the butter cubes and Parmesan-style cheese, stirring after every addition, until the cheese is melted and the braising liquid is thick and emulsified. Keep warm over low heat.

Make the sumac greens. Heat the oil in a saucepan over medium heat. Add the greens and cover to steam and wilt. This will take anywhere between a minute for spinach and 5-6 minutes for cabbage and kale. Uncover, then stir to coat the leaves in the oil. Stir in the sumac, then add a pinch of salt and pepper. Squeeze over the lemon juice, then season to taste.

Ladle the cheesy chickpeas into warm bowls. Top with the sumac greens. Serve immediately.

The chickpeas will keep covered in a sealed container in the refrigerator for up to a week.

The Levantine Vegetarian by Salma Hage (Phaidon, £29.95)