I made it today, and it was great. And simple. I did have to sautee the onions, garlic, ginger, and spices beforehand, but that wasn’t a big deal. It took about ten minutes.
After I sauteed the aforementioned ingredients, I dumped them in the slow cooker with the chickpeas and chopped tomatoes (I used canned ones). I let it simmer on high for about four hours. Right before I served it, I steamed some zucchini and added it to my portion of the stew. I would have preferred to have cooked the zucchini with the other ingredients, but Snow Monkey doesn’t like zucchini. I also used plain yogurt as a condiment. It went really well with the gingery taste of the tomato “gravy” (At least that is what the cookbook called it. I personally thought it was more like a broth).
Not sure what I’ll be making next, but whatever it is, I will most likely make it on Saturday night. Stay tuned.
August 15, 2006 at 9:33 pm
Zuchini is yucky.
August 15, 2006 at 10:07 pm
Yum!! Love the chickpeas. I am ambivalent about steamed, wet, nasty zukes, but when they are sliced thin, doused with olive oil and grilled… delicious!
August 16, 2006 at 6:56 am
Yeah, I’m not usually a fan of steamed zucchini for the reasons that you (AM) noted. They were fine, however, once I mixed them up into the chick pea and tomato glop.
August 16, 2006 at 7:33 am
You are making me hungry. I am not a fan of zucchini either but would be quite happy trying it. Anything mushy and derved over rice sounds good to me.
August 16, 2006 at 8:09 pm
This sounds very good. Now, can someone explain to me the difference between a chickpea and a garbanzo bean once and for all?
August 16, 2006 at 8:15 pm
Do you have any chana masala recipes? (chick pea curry) That would probably work REALLY well in a crock pot. I’m thinking I may need to get one, actually … (crock pot, not recipe. let me know if you want mine)
August 17, 2006 at 12:43 am
There is a great recipe for vegetarian chili in the book, Grace and Grit, by Ken Wilber. I’m sure it would work very well as a slow cook recipe. As a bonus, the true story of the book will make you cry happy bitter sweet tears.
I concur with the ever factual Snow Monkey, Zucchini is in its unique essence yucky. Oh, one bit of advice if like me you find yourself with an new creation that isn’t cutting it, for increased zesty goodness add two parts cumin to one part curry. (This rescues so many dishes.) This can also rescue dishes whose recipients might pre-judge its wholesome goodness based on color.
Have you considered slow cooking acorn squash (chunked) with the butter and brown sugar already added? I’d go there.
My favorite recipe site has a vegetarian arm with many slow cooker recipes (you can add slow cooker to you search terms on the site). A sample link below. http://vegetarian.allrecipes.com/az/BldVgnChili.asp
August 17, 2006 at 9:24 am
I feel vindicated, even if I did misspell zucchini,
August 17, 2006 at 10:26 am
Sbird–there is no different between chick peas and garbanzo beans. They are just different names for the same food.
That Girl, I was actually hoping that the dish I made tasted more like chana masala than it did. I do have a recipe for it, but please send me yours, in case it’s better. I agree that chana masala would work well in a slow cooker.
Green Mountain, I haven’t tried acorn squash in the slow cooker yet, but it sounds good. As does butternut sqaush. I’ll also check out the link you gave me. I did buy two vegetarian slow cooker cookbooks, and I love the array of recipes in them. I’ll post the titles of them when I get home (I can’t remember them off hand).
And for all you who keep insisting that zucchini is no good, I say phooey to you;-) It’s all about how you cook it.
August 17, 2006 at 10:52 am
Green Mountain–I know who you are, and I just emailed you. Let’s try to talk this weekend.
August 17, 2006 at 11:28 am
Yeah, I was just trying to be funny about the chickpea/garbanzo bean thing. No difference (legumically speaking)… although to a language freak like me, there’s a world of linguistic difference between the two words. They would make a line of poetry sound very different, choosing one rather than the other.
Oh, and I love zucchini. We’re overrun with it right now, so if you have other mainly zucchini recipes, please share. Or else I’m going to have to carve them into toy canoes and send them down the creek.
August 17, 2006 at 2:06 pm
Getting a little far afield of The Chickpea Dish, Zgirl and SBird have you considered that the natural course for the zucchini is to grow in the ground rather than be made mushy and eaten. In this sense, Snow Monkey might simply be considered a natural friend of the good cucurbita pepo aka zucchini.
Zucchini consumers should stop reading here…
Snow Monkey have you considered forming a branch of the ZLA (Zucchini Liberation Army). It would be simple enough. As an agent of the ZLA, whenever you encounter a zucchini in the house and in imminent danger (
August 17, 2006 at 2:08 pm
I got cut off, probably a hint from the universe, but…
a zucchini in the house and in imminent danger (
August 17, 2006 at 2:10 pm
ok, that was two hints from the universe…so we should note I make a poor Zen Buddhist.
…whenever you encounter a zucchini in the house and in imminent danger (important distinction), you pledge to help the squash make a dash for freedom (ie toss it in the backyard) where it can quietly go about its own zucchini business. Note that as a angent of the ZLA if confronted with a freed zucchini by “The Man” aka zucchini consumers, you should never admit your ZLA affiliation.
August 17, 2006 at 2:19 pm
LOL Green Mountain. You idea about starting a ZLA makes me realize how much I miss hanging out with you. I think you need to visit us soon. Just combine it with a trip down to IA to see T and A (eww, that’s an unfortunate combination of initials) and you have no excuse for not coming.
August 17, 2006 at 6:28 pm
[...] At the suggestion of the enigmatically named Green Mountain, I have formed the Zucchini Army of National Liberation (the Ejército Zucchini de Liberación Nacional, or EZLN, known popularly as the Zucchinistas). Its mission is to struggle for the rights of oppressed zucchini everywhere—especially in our kitchen, where they are subjected to ZGirl’s cruel tyranny. You may now call me…Subcomandante Calabacín! [...]
August 21, 2006 at 4:26 am
The ZLA warmly welcomes Subcomandante Calabacín and the EZLN within the ZLA affiliated organizations. Remember (ahem) never admit you affiliation to the tyrannical zucchini consumer…”Silence is argument carried out by other means.” Ernesto ‘Che’ Guevara
(1928-1967)