A few weeks ago a friend emailed me telling me she had taken a pledge to eat pulses once a week for 10 weeks. Despite some reservations concerning my lentil-, legume-, and chickpea-recipe repertoire, I decided to take the plunge, too. And so I’ve been cooking my way through the bean chapter of Twelve Recipes, which unsurprisingly has been a joy: last week I discovered dal and over the weekend, a spicy black bean soup flavored with orange zest, a subtle but bright touch to a wintry dish. Most recently, I made the leblebi, a North African chickpea stew, swirled with a smoky harissa. Each of these recipes is made with water and none wants for stock or cream thanks to Peternell’s techniques: slow sweating of the onion, brief toasting of the spices, and thoughtful layering of herbs and garnishes. I know little more about leblebi than what I’ve read in Twelve Recipes and the few recipes I’ve found online, but from what I gather it originates in Tunisia, is typically served at breakfast, and welcomes many a garnish: poached or hard-boiled eggs, a sprinkling of cumin or capers, a drizzle of olive oil or harissa, toasted bread, preserved lemon, tinned fish, or pickled vegetables. I served it solely with Peternell’s simple homemade harissa and mopped it all up with tarka flatbreads.
This is the leblebi on day 2 — it thickens considerably as it sits. Thin with more water to taste or leave it thick and stewy. Peternell gives two methods for making harissa; see recipe below:
4.9 from 14 reviews The original recipe calls for chopped or grated tomatoes or 1/2 cup of roasted tomato puree. I find the canned, crushed tomatoes to work just as well. If you don’t feel like using dried chickpeas and cooking them from scratch, you can use canned chickpeas, drained and rinsed. You’ll need 6 cups (about three 15-oz cans). Peternell suggests a few other serving ideas: croutons, a poached egg or hard-boiled egg, a sprinkling of ground cumin, oil and capers. I keep it simple and swirl in some harissa, which is now readily available at most markets. You also can make your own: See Simple Homemade Harissa. Peternell offers two simple recipes as well:
