Moroccan Chickpeas With Chard

Superb: delicious, healthy, economical. The recipe yields a great deal of food and it freezes well. Lots of opportunities to substitute here while staying true to the spirit of the dish: Try this with spinach if you've no chard; sub squash for turnip, etc. if you don't have preserved lemons on hand, simmer a diced lemon in a little olive oil, salt and sugar until it caramelises; stir in near the end of cooking.

Folks, as an FYI: You can cook dried chickpeas in bulk and then freeze them, for the convenience of canned minus the downsides. Also, after soaking my dry chickpeas overnight, I just put em in my Zojirushi rice cooker on the brown rice setting, water just to cover, and let em do their thing while I'm at work....

Use canned chickpeas. Dried ones were still not quite tender after 2 hours. Use modified version of Mark Bittmans recipe for preserved lemons. Dice organic lemon and mix with 2 teaspoons sugar and 1 teaspoon salt. Let stand at room temperature for a few hours. Sunsweet brand apricots were wonderful.

This was very tasty. I made it with canned chickpeas, halving the entire recipe, and it worked out fine. I simmered them for 30 minutes. Like others, I did not have preserved lemon and omitted that. Next time I will reduce the cinnamon by half as it overpowered some of the other spices. I would also increase the amount of chard leaves.

Chickpeas and other beans take much longer to cook to softness when cooked in an acidic solution (tomato paste). Try cooking the chickpeas separately, then adding them when almost soft. Adding 1/2 tsp. of baking soda to otherwise plain boiling water (good if you have hard water) will also speed up the cooking time; just don't reuse the cooking water as stock if you do this.

You are right about chickpeas needing more time to cook: I soak them overnight, and then also boil them for half an hour by themselves. Other writers have mentioned upping the spices: definitely! I double the amount suggested. This stew is absolutely delicious, and it can be on the stove all day. Just be sure to add the apricots, preserved lemon, and chard at the last minute, as advised.

This has become one of my favorite recipes. It's rich, hearty, filling. Even meat-lovers will find it satisfying. Couple notes. First, the chickpeas will take longer to cook than you think. Canned is not a good substitute because they won't hold up. Also up the spices a bit. I like to add in some hot paprika as well. I never use all the chard stems, because they don't cook down as nicely.

I find the last 15-20 minutes, the stew goes from watery to a nice rich, thick sauce.

Wonderful recipe! I found the chickpeas were done after about 1.5 hours, but that was after a 15 hour soak. Probably also depends on how old the chickpeas are.

I added some butternut squash during the last 30 minutes of cooking and I think it worked well. The squash added a nice sweetness that complimented the cinnamon and apricots, and it helped thicken the stew a bit.

I just made this with Palouse Brand chick peas from Washingtom State. I soaked them overnight, and they cooked in exactly 1 1/2 hours. They made a popping noise when I drained them, which I had never heard before. I was really worried about cooking time when I read the comments. I guess the quality and age of the chick peas must make a huge difference. As for "huge," this recipe makes a huge amount of stew, which barely fit in the pot.

This is, actually, an easy recipe. Granted, it does take a bit of time. To speed things up substitute drained, rinsed, canned chickpeas. Trader Joe's has jarred preserved lemons. I'm not a fan of 'soapy' cilantro and I substitute Italian flat-leaf parsley. It's a tasty vegetarian entrée ( healthy, too ). Serve it with naan or a crusty bread. If you have the time, use the dried chickpeas — they're worth it.

This was so good! I upped the spices by 50%, reduced the salt by 50%, pre cooked the chickpeas to reduce overall cooking time, and substituted a softball sized summer squash for the turnip. Next time I will used a little more dried apricot; that was the one ingredient that kind of got lost. I made it a day before serving it, so the flavors could meld. Served with couscous this recipe easily feeds 10 adults, maybe 12. Freezes well.

I needed to use up chard, fennel and a big turnip so this fit the bill. I doubled the spices, used chicken stock, and added a drained can of petite chopped tomatoes. Simmered 30 min, then added 2 cans of chickpeas & simmered 10 more minutes before adding the chard. The result was very satisfying. Definitely needed salt at the end. Didn't have any preserved lemon on hand, which would have added additional depth. Looking forward to trying it today after the flavors had a chance to meld overnight.

This was outstanding cooked exactly as recipe was written. My guests were blown away, and this will become a standard for cold winter nights. Hint: cook the day before up to step 4. The flavors meld, the sauce thickens, and the chard leaves, preserved lemon, and and apricots taste fresh and zingy. C'mon folks, preserved lemons are easy to make , last forever in the fridge, and have a thousand uses.

It's very easy to make your own preserved lemons—and they're an easy way to add a bit of zip to many dishes. The original Paula Wolfort recipe is here on NYTimesCooking.

The flavor is definitely better the second day. For those who dislike chard [or dislike beet greens, of course], it can be replaced with spinach with no real difficulty.

I think the next time I cook this, I will use a larger bulb of fennel and double the spices. The quality of the preserved lemon also makes a massive difference.