Syracusan Rice and Chickpea Soup.
Traditional recipe and with Bimby. Vegan dish.
Different places have different recipes. Here in Sicily, chickpeas are mainly prepared in 3 ways: as soup, with rice, or with pasta. Recently, they are also being prepared in delicious salads, especially in summer.
It’s customary to cook the Syracusan Rice and Chickpea Soup for the feast of Santa Lucia, the Patron of Syracuse, which was once a Roman city.
Dry chickpeas are used, and they need to soak for at least 8-12 hours.
You might also be interested in:
- Cost: Very economical
- Rest time: 8 Hours
- Preparation time: 10 Minutes
- Portions: 4
- Cooking methods: Slow cook
- Cuisine: Regional Italian
- Region: Sicily
- Seasonality: All seasons
Ingredients
- 7 oz dry chickpeas
- 1 cup carrot
- 1.76 oz onion
- 1 stalk celery
- 1 sprig rosemary
- 4 cherry tomatoes (ripe or 1 of 3.5 oz)
- 1 cup Arborio rice
- 2.8 tbsp extra virgin olive oil
- 1 chili pepper (optional)
- 5.3 oz potatoes
- to taste salt
- 1 qt water
Tools
What we need
- 1 Cutting board
- 1 Knife
- 1 Pressure cooker
- or Bimby
- 1 Pot or Bimby
- 1 Immersion blender or the Bimby
Steps
We will start the night before. Soak the chickpeas, add twice their height of water, and leave them for at least 8 hours.
Recipe for pressure cooker and not
After the soaking time, we start cooking.
Wash the vegetables, and place them whole in the pot along with the chickpeas.
Add water, until it doubles the height of the legumes, but be careful not to exceed the maximum level indicated in the pot. At this point, if you use the pressure cooker, cook for at least 25/30 minutes from the moment of whistle.
If you opt for the classic cooking, cook them for about 1 and a half hours, adding a little water at a time, which, remember, must be hot, never cold, otherwise the chickpeas remain hard.
At the end, when the cooking is completed, scoop out some of the vegetables with a slotted spoon, put them in a glass bowl, and blend them.
This will create a creamy sauce, which we will add to the dish at the end.
Here is the creamy sauce.
When the chickpeas are cooked, check that the cooking water is at least about 2 fingers above the legumes, bring to a boil, and add the rice or pasta depending on your taste, grains would also be fine.
At the end of cooking, add the creamy vegetable sauce we prepared earlier, stir, and season with a bit of extra virgin olive oil.
Serve hot with a sprig of rosemary.
Soak the chickpeas in 1 quart of water for at least 12 hours
after 12 hours, put the chickpeas and 0.8-inch pieces of potatoes in the basket, with the soaking water in the bowl, and cook for the time described on the package at 212°F speed 1 counterclockwise
The cooking time may vary depending on the dryness of the legume, which is why I don’t describe it.
Set the cooked chickpeas aside, and transfer the cooking water to a separate container.If you opt for canned chickpeas, you can skip this step and proceed as follows. Remember that 200 grams of dry chickpeas are equivalent to 600 grams canned, drained.
Now put the onion, carrot, and celery stalk, roughly chopped, into the bowl, and chop for 5 sec. speed 7.
Pour in the extra virgin olive oil and sauté for 3 min. counterclockwise 248°F speed 1.
Then add the tomatoes and half of the chickpeas with the drained and boiled potatoes. Blend for 5 sec speed 5.
Pour 700 grams of water, previously set aside, into the bowl and if needed, add more fresh water. Cook with the basket instead of the measuring cup for 10 min counterclockwise 212°F speed 1
Open the bowl and add the rice and 1 teaspoon of salt. Cook for the time indicated on the package at 212°F counterclockwise spoon speed with the basket on top.
At this point, add the rest of the boiled chickpeas, which are kept whole, and cook for 1 min. counterclockwise 212°F speed 1. At the end of cooking let it rest for 3 minutes in the bowl, and then..
If you wish, add raw rosemary and chili pepper to taste, and serve. Here is the Syracusan Rice and Chickpea Soup, prepared with the Bimby
Storage and Tips
Syracusan Rice and Chickpea Soup.
Syracusan Pasta and Chickpeas Risotto. You can store this dish in the fridge for up to 3 days. However, I recommend storing only the chickpea soup without the rice in the freezer for up to 4 months.
Dish History
Today’s dish takes us back to ancient Rome, as one of the most noble families of the time, the Ciceroni, named this legume after their name.
Thus, chickpeas spread throughout the Mediterranean basin and were eventually cultivated worldwide.
But the link between chickpeas and Saint Lucia is tied to a miracle that occurred shortly after the martyrdom and killing of the Saint by a rejected suitor.
There was a great famine, and the population gathered in the Cathedral to pray, then from an eyewitness’s written testimony, like the miracle of the end of the famine in the year 1646, Sunday, May 13th, a dove was seen flying inside the Cathedral during Mass.
When the dove landed on the bishop’s throne, a voice announced the arrival at the port of a shipload of grains. The whole population saw in that ship the answer given by Lucia to the many prayers that had been directed to her.
After the miracle, the people of Palermo decided to boil the grain and season it with olive oil. Thus, ‘cuccìa’ was born, whose name derives from ‘coccio’ meaning grain. Although today the recipe is completely revisited and made much more delicious.
The festival should have a spiritual purpose: in memory of the miracle, the Church proposes fasting and abstaining from consuming, for this day, bread, and pasta. A famous Palermo motto says: ‘Santa Lucia, vulissi pani, pani unn’ aiu e accussi mi staiu’.
FAQ (Questions and Answers)
Syracusan Rice and Chickpea Soup
Can I use pasta instead of rice?
Yes, small pasta tubes are excellent.
Syracusan Rice and Chickpea Soup
