“Se puede comer garbanzos salados?” “Can you eat chickpeas
as a savory dish?” asked my friend in disgust when I proudly presented a
vegetarian chickpea curry at one of my first potluck dinners here in Xela. It’s
fair to say it didn’t go down very well. But who knew that chickpeas could be
eaten as a dessert? Any true Chapin would not eat them any
other way.
‘Garbanzos en miel’ -
chickpeas in honey (or, what should really translate as ‘chickpeas in lots of
sugar’) is a Guatemalan delicacy eaten para la pascua (for Easter). Like
many other colonial imports, Guatemala has embraced el garbanzo and
made it very much their own. It is now as familiar to Easter and as paches are
to Christmas.
Semana Santa (Holy Week)
would not be the same without garbanzos en miel. Imagine Antigua
without procesiones y alfombras; Imagine Domingo de Ramos (the Sunday before
Easter) without traffic-halting crowds around parque central, drowing in the scent
of burning incense and cuetes(fireworks); Imagine
la cuarezma (lent) without mango
season. God forbid! There is no semana santawithout garbanzos en miel.
There may be more
complicated recipes but few of us have the ingredients, utensils or time. So
this is a quick and easy recipe to impress your friends and host family this
Easter by demonstrating your timely cultural awareness of local traditions.
1. Boil one pound of
chickpeas in a pressure cooker for about 20 minutes until soft. This does vary
depending on the efficiency of your cooker. Drain and take off the shells (the
outer layer) as necessary. Alternatively you can soak the chickpeas a day
before, drain and wash and cook in a normal pan until soft, spooning off
the espuma when needed. Otherwise, you can now buy cans of
cooked chickpeas at larger stores like La Despensa.
2. Put the chickpeas
in a pan, add 3-4 tb of panela depending on how sweet you want
it. Panela is sold in most markets. It comes as a solid cubed
dark brown block. It’s a great alternative to brown sugar (not so easy to
find). Just shave off about a handful and once melted in with the chickpeas,
check that the mixture is sufficiently sweet.
3. Add one ramita
de canela ‘cinnamon stick’ or about 3 tsp of ground cinnamon. If you
have any fresh ginger in the cupboard, add about an inch of ginger – remember
to remove this and the cinnamon stick before serving.
3. Add enough water to
just cover the chickpeas to create a sauce, adding more if needed as you go.
4. Cook on a low heat
stirring from time to time until the chickpeas are soft.
5. Serve cold
with crema fresca if desired.
My food blog online can be found at: http://recetasguatemaltecasymas.blogspot.com/
