“Garbanzada Manchega” is another typical dish from Castilla La Mancha in Spain that uses one of the most important ingredients in Spanish home cooking: the chick pea. In this dish the chick peas are cleverly used alongside cod and spinach. Chick peas in Spanish are called “Garbanzos” and they are used in a wonderful array of different ways to create amazing hearty and nutritious meals on a budget. Other famous Castilian-Manchego dishes and ingredients include “Pisto” (a vegetable stew with tomato sauce), “Gazpacho Manchego”, the famous “Queso Manchego” (a type of cheese), the white wine of La Mancha, and the red wine from Valdepeñas. Castilian-Manchego dishes and specialties of the region are generally sober and sensible, reflecting a modest, rural origin. They contain a limited number of ingredients. Ingredients tend to be those most easily accessible by the locals. Dishes tend to be high in calories, ideal for the diets of laborers, farmers, and shepherds. The cuisine of this area was popularized by Cervantes in his “Don Quixote de la Mancha”, where a number of traditional dishes are mentioned.
“Garbanzada manchega”
Ingredients for 4 people:
750 gr. of chickpeas
200 gr. of cod in 6 pieces
250 gr. of spinach
1 onion
3 eggs
60 gr. of breadcrumbs
1 teaspoon of paprika
3 garlic cloves
1 pinch of salt Parsley
1 bay leaf
1 tablespoon of bicarbonate
120 cc. of olive oil
Preparation:
Leave the chickpeas to soak in warm water and bicarbonate overnight.
The next day, drain the water away and put the chickpeas in a sauce pan with salt and a bay leaf.
Boil for one and a half to two hours.
While the chickpeas are boiling make some parsley fritters like this:
Whisk the eggs, add garlic, the parsley and the breadcrumbs without letting it get too thick.
Heat the olive oil. When it is very hot, add tablespoons of the fritter batter. When the fritters are cooked put them to one side.
Use some of this oil to fry the chopped onion. When soft, add the paprika and take off the heat.
When the chickpeas are nearly ready add the onions and the cod (it can be raw or you can cover it with flour and fry it slightly before.)
With 10 minutes left, add the spinach and finally the fritters.
