Chickpeas soaked overnight and pressure cooked, then brought together with shredded chicken, fried sausage and a tomato and scallion sofrito. It starts the day before.
Four things cooked apart, one dish at the end
Nothing in this recipe cooks together until the very last step, and that is what makes it take an hour despite none of it being difficult.
The chickpeas go into a pressure cooker for an hour with the bouillon cube, the colouring and salt. The chicken cooks separately for half an hour and is shredded. The sausage fries for fifteen minutes. The tomato, scallion and bell pepper make a sofrito in another pan, also fifteen minutes.
Then all of it goes together, added to the chickpeas a little at a time. The recipe suggests using the same pressure cooker or a large bowl, whichever is easier to stir in.
It all runs in parallel, so start the chickpeas first and the rest fits inside their hour.
Soaking is not optional
Dried chickpeas that have not been soaked cook badly. They take two or three times longer, and because they hydrate unevenly you end up with some collapsing into the liquid while others are still hard in the middle.
Overnight in water at room temperature, covered generously, since they roughly double. Then drain them and start.
Tinned chickpeas turn this into a much shorter recipe and there is no shame in it: skip straight to the last step.
A pot, not a slow cooker
The fourth instruction said to cook the chicken in a slow cooker for half an hour over medium heat, which describes no slow cooker that exists. Those work over four to eight hours at low temperatures.
The Spanish was olla, a pot. Half an hour over medium heat with salt and a little oil is right, and the chicken should shred easily with two forks when it comes out.
The note that was buried
The recipe's notes contained a useful line: instead of scallions, regular onions also work well.
It was underneath six nested divs of interface markup that came along when the text was pasted in, with Tailwind class names and a dark-mode background colour. None of it was visible on the page, but all of it was in the database and in the structured data.
The note is a good one. Five stems of scallion is a lot to buy for one dish, and a regular onion gives a sweeter, rounder sofrito.
More pulses
- Lentejas guisadas — the other everyday pulse.
- Traditional beans — the Colombian classic.
- Colombian hogao — the sofrito on its own.
- Arroz con pollo — the other chicken and starch.
Chicken with Chickpeas FAQ
Yes, overnight. Unsoaked dried chickpeas take two or three times as long and cook unevenly, with some collapsing while others are still hard. Cover them generously: they roughly double in size.
You can, and it changes the recipe into a twenty-minute one. Skip the first three steps and add them at the end with everything else, drained.
No, and the old instruction was wrong. It said slow cooker and gave it half an hour, which is not how one works. A pot over medium heat for half an hour is what was meant.
So each thing is done properly. The chickpeas need an hour under pressure, the chicken half an hour, the sausage and the sofrito fifteen minutes each. They all come together only at the last step.
Divided up: three for the sausage, three for the sofrito, and the rest for the chicken and for adjusting. It is not all in one pan.
Either. The recipe's own note says regular onions work well in place of the five stems of scallion, and it gives a sweeter result.
A powdered achiote or annatto colouring sold in sachets, which turns the chickpeas golden. Turmeric or sweet paprika does the same.
📖 Recipe
Ingredients
- 1 pound chickpeas (soaked overnight)
- 1 pound chicken breast
- 1 long sausage (chopped into small pieces)
- 2 medium tomatoes (finely chopped)
- 5 stems scallion (finely chopped, or regular onion)
- ½ small red bell pepper (finely chopped)
- 150 grams tomato sauce
- 9 tablespoons cooking oil (three for the sausage, three for the sofrito)
- ½ bouillon cube (Maggi or similar)
- Achiote or annatto colouring ('color' in Colombia, to taste)
- Salt (to taste)
Notas
Instructions
- Soak the chickpeas overnight in water at room temperature.
- Cook the chickpeas in a pressure cooker for an hour, or until they are soft, over medium heat. Add the bouillon cube, the achiote colouring and salt to taste to the pot.
- Drain the chickpeas and set them aside.
- While the chickpeas cook, cook the chicken in a pot with salt to taste and a little oil, for half an hour over medium heat.
- Shred the chicken and set it aside.
- Fry the sausage in 3 tablespoons of oil for 15 minutes over medium heat, stirring constantly.
- In another pan, cook the scallion, tomato and bell pepper in 3 tablespoons of oil with salt to taste, for 15 minutes or until the liquid has reduced, stirring constantly over medium heat.
- Add the shredded chicken, the fried sausage, the tomato and scallion sofrito and the tomato sauce to the chickpeas, mixing them in a little at a time. Use the same pressure cooker or a large bowl, whichever is easier to stir in.
- Serve with rice or a slice of bread.
Laurie Rasor
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