Chickapalooza!

I'm sure you wouldn't be surprised, Gentle Reader, to learn that the husband and I are big fans of Justice League Unlimited. Saturday evenings used to consist of a Chipotle burrito and whatever episode Cartoon Network was airing. Ahh, those were good times....

The husband has a particular episode that he enjoys watching repeatedly that focuses on cage fights between superheroes--female superheroes--dubbed by one lunkheaded henchman as, you guessed it, Chickapalooza.

Well, here, Gentle Reader. Check it out for yourself:

What this episode has to do with the rest of this post? Absolutely nothing, Gentle Reader. Zilch. Zip. I just thought I'd have some fun mentioning JLU and embedding a full episode in my blog.

Now, on with the real post!

The Return of Culinary Misadventures
After a few weeks of making and eating some recipes that have come to be family favorites, I decided it was time to strap on the 'ol apron, whip out the 'ol chef's knife and get down to making a mess trying out a new recipe. I'd been eyeballing some toor dal recipes before my trip to Okiemolah, but I have one problem when it comes to dal recipes: The boys won't touch 'em. The boy doesn't like beans (well, except for black beans) just because he's a boy and it's his prerogative to not like beans (except for black beans). The husband has told me he doesn't eat beans because he "doesn't like the mouth feel." In other words, he doesn't like the way beans can squish in your mouth. Whatever. If you ask me, the husband sometimes is a five-year-old boy who believes it's his prerogative to not like beans.

Whilst browsing toor dal recipes in my various Indian cookbooks, I came across a recipe for a chicken and chickpea harira, a Moroccan soup, in Suvir Saran's American Masala. I thought perhaps that by adding some meat to the chickpeas, I could perhaps get all the human members of Chez Boeckman-Walker to partake.

Chicken-Chickpea Harira1/3 C extra-virgin olive oil
1 t ground peppercorns
5 whole cloves
A 1" cinnamon stick
2 red onions, finely diced
1 1/2 lb. boneless chicken thigh meat, cubed
1/2 t turmeric
1 t Aleppo pepper or 1/4 t cayenne pepper
1 T plus 1 t kosher NaCl
3 medium tomatoes, cored and diced
2 15-oz. cans chickpeas, drained and rinsed
2 C canned chopped tomatoes
3 C water
1/2 t saffron threads, finely ground
1 t toasted cumin
1/2 t garam masala, sambhar or curry powder
1/4 C chopped fresh cilantro

1. Heat the oil with the ground peppercorns, cloves and cinnamon stick in a large pot over medium-high heat for 1 min.
   
2. Add the onions and cook until they're soft and lightly browned around the edges (3-5 min.), stirring often.
   
3. Add the chicken and cook until the meat releases its liquid and the pan dries (about 5 min.), stirring occasionally.
   
4. Mix in the turmeric, Aleppo or cayenne pepper and NaCl, then cook for 4 min., stirring occasionally.
   
5. Add the fresh tomatoes and cook until they release their juices (about 3 1/2 min.), stirring occasionally and scraping any browned bits from the bottom of the pot.
   
6. Add the chickpeas, canned tomatoes and water, bring to a boil, then reduce the heat to medium-low, cover and simmer for 35 min.
   
7. Stir in the saffron, cumin, ciantro and your choice of garam masala, sambhar or curry powder. Taste for seasoning, adjust as needed, then serve.

Yield: 6 servings of undetermined size

I can't provide any nutritional information insce Saran doesn't include it in his book. A serving of chickpeas per the packaging contains about 5 grams of fat, FYI. (I didn't realize that, so I thought I'd share it.)

The Faudie's Futzings

• I used 2 tablespoons of olive oil, not the 1/3 cup. I just couldn't bring myself to use that much oil. No way no how.
  
• I ground peppercorns. Can you believe it? I got down my M&P, poured in some peppercorns and went to town. I think I've said this before, Gentle Reader, but ground pepper you buy in a tin or bottle has nothing on freshly ground peppercorns. I found myself once again wishing I had a pepper mill--even though I use pepper oh so much in my kitchen.
  
• I used chicken breasts. I doubt I'll ever use any other part of the chicken in my kitchen.
  
• While I intend to use two red onions, after dicing two halves (one left over from last week and one I cut fresh for the recipe) and seeing the copious amount of diced red onions I had, I put away the second fresh half and put away the untouched whole red onion.
  
• I cheated and used two cans of diced, no-salt-added tomatoes. I didn't have any fresh whole tomatoes, but I do have two cans of whole, peeled tomatoes. But why go to the bother of cutting up canned tomatoes when you have two cans of diced ones on hand? I doubt using all diced tomatoes instead of some diced and some chopped really made a big difference.
  
• I chose to use cayenne pepper since I haven't a bloody clue if I can even find Aleppo pepper around here. Not that I've looked, mind you. But it just sounds a little too exotic for even Austin. Hell, I'll probably walk in to Central Markup next weekend and find it along with the three dozen jars of bulk chile powders and rubs the store sells....
  
• Upon consultation with the husband after letting the harira simmer for 15 minutes (more on this in a moment), I opted not to add garam masala nor sambhar nor curry powder because we felt the flavor was just right without any of those additions. Moreover, I couldn't imagine that half a teaspoon of any of those would make an noticeable impact, so why bother?
  
• I did only let the harira simmer for about 15 minutes. I got it simmering later than I'd planned, and I didn't want supper to be late. After 15 minutes, the harira seemed ready to eat: The meat was incredibly tender and flavorful, the chickpeas were just the right consistency, and the flavors had all mingled together quite nicely, so why wait?

To accompany the harira, I served up a big batch of idlis to finish up the big tub of fresh idli/dosa batter I'd bought from Gandhi Bazaar back when the boys were in New Mexico in mid-October. The batter actually expired November 8, but I didn't notice any problems. Damn, idlis are yummy.


Chickapalooza Does Mean Something
As I was crafting my "Faudie's Futzings" section, I remembered a little...incident-- revelation, I suppose--that makes the title of this post relevant.

You might have noticed, Gentle Reader, that the recipe calls for two 15-ounce cans of chickpeas. I'm not a fan of using canned beans for these recipes. I can't explain why. Maybe I just enjoy soaking and simmering lentils and beans. Maybe I enjoy that because I have the opportunity to do so because I work from home. So why use canned when you can use freshly prepared?

But here's the thing I realized after I dumped my soaked, simmered and drained chickpeas into the pot: A 15-ounce can is not the same as 15 ounces of chickpeas. I mean, the 15 ounces in the can include some kind of liquid, right? That's just my guess, Gentle Reader, because I've never bought a can of chickpeas. I've bought cans of other beans--black beans, Great Northern beans, Van Camp's pork and beans--and they've had liquid in them along with the beans. So in my mind, a can of chickpeas would probably contain liquid.

Anywho, my point is that my chicken-chickpea harira was a chickapolooza because I dutifully measured, soaked, simmered and drained 30 ounces of chickpeas. See for yourself:

Notice the volume in the pot before I added the chickpeas.

Notice that the pot's now about to overflow after I added the chickpeas.

And here's another way in which this post's title is relevant: The husband discovered he can eat chickpeas and not be repulsed by their mouth feel! So the harira for him was a bit of a celebration of chickpeas, thus chickapalooza seems evocative of some celebration surrounding his discovery. Or at least that's what I think. Maybe I'm just pulling this outta my arse.