Chickpeas and Rice 

The original recipe came out of a cookbook called 366 Delicious Ways to Cook Rice, Beans, and Grains.  It originally called for saffron to be cooked with the rice. Like I am so SURE! I have that on hand ALL the time. Not.

HERE'S ALL IT TAKES

• 2 cups vegetable broth or water
• 1 cup uncooked long grain rice

• 2 tablespoons olive oil
• 3 tablespoons onion, minced
• 2 garlic cloves, minced
• 1 teaspoon ground cumin
• 1 1/2 cups canned diced tomatoes with juice
• 1 1/2 cups cooked chickpeas with liquid or 1 (14.5 ounce) canned chickpeas
• 1/4 teaspoon paprika
• 1 tablespoon chopped fresh cilantro
• salt & fresh ground pepper to taste

In a small pan, bring the broth to a boil, pour in the rice, cover with lid and REDUCE heat to low and simmer.  Cook until rice has absorbed water, 12 to 15 minutes. Remove from heat, do not fluff until ready to serve.

In a medium saucepan over medium heat, heat the olive oil.  Add the onion, garlic, and cumin, and saute until fragrant, about 2 minutes.  Add the tomatoes, cooked chickpeas, paprika, and cilantro, and reduce the heat to low.  Let simmer for 20-30 minutes; the longer it cooks the more the tomatoes break down and create a delicious sauce.  If there's not enough liquid to make a sauce, add 1 1/2 cups of broth.

To serve, make a bed of the cooked rice on a serving platter.  Spoon the chickpea mixture with cooking liquid onto the center of the rice and serve at once.

Note to Self:

I had a bag of dried garbanzo beans and cooked the  chickpeas in the pressure cooker FIRST, THEN used the extra chickpea broth to cook the rice.

Do not skip the paprika seasoning in this recipe.  If not on hand, use a good chili powder.

And that 1 tablespoon of fresh cilantro really brightens this dish.  It's the perfect amount and I wouldn't leave it out.  However, if i didn't have cilantro on hand, parsley would work too.