Chick Peas with Spinach

Puppet show has its roots to all ancient civilizations such as the Chinese and Greek. All of them have a common characteristic, that being the domination of one character who is cunning, crafty, naughty, sneaky and inventive. He uses all these “virtues” to survive and trick the authority and sometimes he acts also as a protector of poor and weak.

Italians took all the characters that came from their previous pagan societies, infused them with “Commedia dell’arte” and created the so called marionette. With travelling troupes, the custom spread throughout Europe and each country adapted them to local practices and created different adventures. In England we have “Punch and Judi”, in France “Gnafron and Guignol and in Russia “Petruska”. In Europe, puppets’ bodies were made out of fabric and their heads of wood.

Chick Peas with Spinach

Although, eventually, puppets became primarily kids’ entertainment, back in their dawning it was a spectacle for small and grownups. In Greece the first testimonies of a puppet show come from around 1880 from the Ionian island of Zakynthos. They, probably, came from neighboring Italy and some puppet troupe that came to the island. There, we had two heroes “Fasoulis and Revithis” which mean in English “Bean and Chickpea”. It was very common back in those days to name heroes like them after food people consumed. Bean was the main character and Chickpea was his friend. Both of them were engaged in very funny adventures, creating impossible situations and misunderstandings. Always cunning, hungry, blusterous, disrespectful for the law, but with a sense of social justice, ready to help the poor and needy.

Chick Peas with Spinach

All performances were given, especially during warmer months of the year, in public squares, in public gardens and streets or during colder months, in cafeterias, theaters, or any other sheltered place. Sometimes, they were rich and elaborate and sometimes they were poor and bare depending on the money the person who was running the business had.

Bean and Chickpea were fighting and spanking each other in every occasion something went wrong or when they were chased by the law. With the invention of cinematography, all those types of spectacle started becoming obsolete and fatefully started to fade. Nevertheless, for centuries this type of entertainment was a major source of laughter, education and socializing for the less fortunate people of society and especially for children.

Chick Peas with Spinach

This week is Holly Week for us Orthodox concluding to Holy Saturday and Easter Sunday. Although, in general, I do not fast, this week I refrain from meat as a gesture of respect for Him who taught nothing but love, altruism, selflessness and dignity and had the courage to support and believe these values until the very end and sacrifice himself for them.

This dish with chickpeas and spinach was so delicious I couldn’t stop eating. Packed with herbs and spices, leaves you a filling and delicious aftertaste. Don’t forget to add that dollop of yogurt, you cannot imagine the change it makes.

Chick Peas with Spinach

 

5.0 from 4 reviews
Slow Cooker Chickpeas with Spinach
 
Author/ Συγγραφέας:
Recipe type/ Τύπος Πιάτου: Main Course
Ingredients/ Συστατικά
  • 400 gr. / 14 oz. chickpeas
  • 250 gr. / 9 oz. baby spinach
  • 1 onion, chopped
  • 3 garlic cloves, minced
  • 400 ml / 13.5 fl. oz. coconut cream or milk
  • 3 sweet potatoes
  • Bunch of dill, finely chopped
  • Bunch of parsley, finely chopped
  • ¼ cup tomato juice
  • 1 cup of water
  • 1 cup of water in which we have dissolved 2 tsp of double concentrated tomato paste
  • ¼ cup olive oil
  • 1 tsp of each of the following: paprika, cumin, cardamom, mild chili powder, ground ginger, dried coriander
  • Salt and pepper
  • Greek yogurt for serving
Instructions/ Εκτέλεση
  1. From previous day put the chickpeas in water and let them stay like this overnight.
  2. Next day
  3. Preheat oven to 200°C/400°F.
  4. Place the sweet potatoes to a pan and bake for 20 minutes.
  5. Turn off the oven and let them stay for about fifteen minutes and then peel them and cut them in thin slices.
  6. In your slow cooker add all the ingredients including the potatoes, except the salt and pepper.
  7. Mix gently with a spoon and start your slow cooker.
  8. They need to be cooked at high for six hours.
  9. Half an hour before the ending add salt and pepper according to your liking.
  10. For those who do not have a slow cooker put everything, but the salt and pepper in a pot.
  11. Bring to boil and then reduce heat to low and let them cook slowly until the chick peas are soft.
  12. Check them in an hour to see if they are soft.
  13. If not continue for another hour.
  14. Half an hour before the end, add salt and pepper according to your tasting.
  15. Accompany the chickpeas with a dollop of Greek yogurt, they match perfectly.

 
5.0 from 4 reviews
Ρεβύθια με Σπανάκι
 
Author/ Συγγραφέας:
Recipe type/ Τύπος Πιάτου: Κυρίως Πιάτο
Ingredients/ Συστατικά
  • 400 γρ. ρεβίθια
  • 250 γρ. σπανάκι
  • 1 κρεμμύδι, ψιλοκομμένο
  • 3 σκελίδες σκόρδο, λιωμένες
  • 400 ml κρέμα καρύδας ή γάλα
  • 3 γλυκοπατάτες
  • Ένα ματσάκι φρέσκο μαιντανό
  • Ένα ματσάκι φρέσκο άνιθο
  • ¼ φλ. κονκασέ
  • 1 φλ. νερό
  • 1 φλ. νερό στο οποίο έχουμε διαλύσει 2 κουταλάκια του γλυκού ντοματομπελτέ
  • ¼ φλ. ελαιόλαδο
  • 1 κ.γ. από κάθε ένα από τα ακόλουθα: πάπρικα, κύμινο, κάρδαμο, ήπια σκόνη τσίλι, κόλιανδρο τριμμένο τζίντζερ
  • Αλάτι και πιπέρι
  • Γιαούρτι για το σερβίρισμα
Instructions/ Εκτέλεση
  1. Από την προηγούμενη μέρα βάλτε τα ρεβύθια σε νερό να φουσκώσουν όλη νύχτα.
  2. Επόμενη μέρα
  3. Προθερμαίνετε το φούρνο στους 200° C.
  4. Τοποθετήστε τις γλυκοπατάτες σε ένα ταψί και ψήστε για 20 λεπτά.
  5. Κλείστε το φούρνο και αφήστε να μείνουν για περίπου δεκαπέντε λεπτά και στη συνέχεια ξεφλουδίστε τις και κόψτε τις σε λεπτές φέτες.
  6. Στη slow cooker σας, προσθέστε όλα τα συστατικά και τις πατάτες εκτός από το αλάτι και το πιπέρι.
  7. Ανακατέψτε απαλά με ένα κουτάλι και ξεκινήστε τη slow cooker.
  8. Πρέπει να ψηθεί σε υψηλή θερμοκρασία για έξι ώρες.
  9. Μισή ώρα πριν το τέλος ρίξτε αλάτι και πιπέρι.
  10. Για εκείνους που δεν έχουν slow cooker, βάλτε τα πάντα σε μια κατσαρόλα εκτός από το αλάτι και το πιπέρι.
  11. Βάλτε στη φωτιά και μόλις αρχίσουν να βράζουν χαμηλώστε τη φωτιά στο χαμηλό και αφήστε τα να μαγειρευτούν σιγά-σιγά μέχρι να μαλακώσουν τα ρεβύθια.
  12. Ελέγξτε τα ανά μία ώρα για να δείτε αν είναι μαλακά.
  13. Μισή ώρα πριν το τέλος ρίξτε αλάτι και πιπέρι.
  14. Συνοδέψτε τα ρεβύθια με γιαούρτι, ταιριάζουν τέλεια.