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Instead of brawling out on the street, this New Year's Eve there is bang in the kitchen - with fried chickpeas
Photo: Sebastian Maas / DER SPIEGEL
I always overeat in December.
Not because I really want it, but because I always get free food everywhere: cookies from St.
After the holidays, I'm pretty exhausted and the contents of my veins increasingly feel like thick gravy.
So to surprise my body there is something easy for New Year's Eve.
And because I want to kill two birds with one stone, I use up a lot of leftover groceries from the Christmas days.
In fact, I actually kill three birds.
New Year's Eve is quieter than usual this year, due to the Corona, the sale of firecrackers and pyrotechnics was temporarily prohibited, even what you still have in the basement should not be ignited.
I still satisfy my infantile playful instinct: This year the bang just happens in my kitchen.
To do this, I fry chickpeas in the pan - which makes some of them explode almost like popcorn.
Seasoned for winter, they end up on a warm salad with rice and clementines.
To top it off, because I've completely lost my mind, speculoos crumbs.
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This week's recipe is shaped by my Christmas pantry
Photo: Sebastian Maas / DER SPIEGEL
This is what you need for two servings:
a can of chickpeas
a small head of lettuce (e.g. romaine)
a clementine
a speculoos biscuit or two
four or five dates (other dried fruits like apricots or even raisins also work)
a handful of rice - I'll use wild rice
half a cucumber
Garam-masala spice mix (alternatively cinnamon and cumin, if necessary even curry - more on this below)
four teaspoons of oil and two teaspoons each of mild mustard and honey
What does this cost?
In the discounter a total of only 3.50 euros, i.e. 1.75 euros per person
How long does it take?
About 30 minutes
How to make warm winter salad with chickpeas
Today I work with »mise en place«, as trained chefs say.
That means: I prepare everything so that I don't get stressed while cooking and serving because I still have to chop two ingredients while something is burning on the stove.
So first put a pot of water on the stove and prepare the rice of your choice according to the instructions on the package.
When it is ready after 10 to 15 minutes, cover and set aside and let cool.
It goes best with this dish when it is lukewarm.
In the meantime, wash and dry the lettuce and cucumber thoroughly.
Roughly chop the lettuce, remove the seeds from the cucumber and roughly dice the rest.
Cut the dried fruit into thin strips, add and set the lettuce aside.
Then peel the clementine neatly and carefully, it should not disintegrate.
We want to cut them into slices, about eight to ten, depending on the size of the clementine.
You need a sharp knife and careful fingers for this.
The result looks like star cuisine and can also be set aside.
For the dressing, simply put some oil, honey and mustard in an old jam jar, shake it vigorously and prepare it too.
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Everything is in its place, now you can cook!
Photo: Sebastian Maas / DER SPIEGEL
Should I ignite the blast now?
Chickpeas are a great food because they are not only super cheap, but also have a long shelf life and are extremely versatile: I make hummus dips out of them, cook curry with them, deep-fry them to make falafels or bake them in the oven to replace chips.
They have an extremely high amount of protein and fiber, comparatively few calories, fill you up and, depending on how they are prepared, taste subtly meaty or sweet.
A culinary chameleon!
Today they just end up in the pan.
To do this, first drain the can and rinse the peas under running water (for example in a pasta colander) until the water no longer foams.
Then drain well or pat the peas dry so that the oil doesn't splash later.
Place a pan on the stove over medium to high heat and add the chickpeas with a little fat.
Swirl regularly and make sure that the peas don't get too hot - which you can tell by the fact that they all explode and fly through the kitchen at the same time.
If that happens, turn down the heat or, even better, put a lid on the pan.
After about five minutes and a lot of boom-boom, the peas should have a nice brown color.
If not, just fry a little more - you already know what looks delicious to you.
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Now the spices come into play.
Chickpeas are used, for example, in North Africa, the Levant and India, but each of them is seasoned very differently.
For us, this means that we don't have to worry about doing anything wrong - because a lot really goes with the little bang.
Because I want to taste fireworks (we Germans skimp on the taste so often, we have to overcome that - #MakeFoodTasteAgain), I put a large tablespoon of Garam Masala in the pan.
This is an Indian spice mix with cardamom, cinnamon, pepper, cumin and mace.
I might as well just use cinnamon and cumin, or even a curry mix.
Trying out and experimenting are worthwhile, then you don't always have to eat the same thing.
The Indian variant fits well today because we associate many of the spices with Christmas in this country.
Swirl everything, set the stove to low heat and fry the spices for a few minutes.
At the end, add salt again to taste.
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It only looked so beautiful for a moment, a few moments later my wife tore up the salad like a Velociraptor a minor character in »Jurassic Park«
Photo: Sebastian Maas / DER SPIEGEL
Now it can be served!
To do this, divide the lukewarm rice between two deep plates or bowls.
Salad, cucumber and dried fruits come on top.
Then I distribute the clementine slices
over it and sprinkle the hot chickpeas afterwards.
Simply drizzle the dressing over everything with a spoon.
Now all that's missing is the croutons.
I usually don't touch speculoos, which is why they usually lead a very sad existence in my candy drawer for a very long time.
It may even be that the ones used here are still from Christmas 2019, I prefer not to look at the best-before date.
Instead, I roughly crumble them by hand (you don't want powder) over the salad and serve.
With these snap peas you can end the year well.
I hope you like it and I wish you a happy new year 2021!
Did you recreate the recipe? What spices did you use? Do you know great dishes that cost little money?
Write to me - or send me a picture of it
.
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