Etsiz Nohut Yemegi: Turkish Chickpea Stew without Meat

Today we would like to introduce you to another classic of Turkish cuisine. Nohut Yemegi simply means "chickpea dish" in English. And that's exactly what our Turkish-style chickpea stew is!

Would you have guessed that Turkey is one of the most important chickpea-growing countries in the world? The healthy legumes are produced and, after all, consumed on a massive scale in this country. In Aktars, where you can buy all kinds of spices, dried fruit, cereals and other products, you can also find various types of chickpeas in Turkey. These differ both in quality and size. So if you are ever in Turkey, be sure to look beyond the spices. You will soon realize that not all chickpeas are the same. Instead, we are always on the lookout for a good variety.

What characterizes a typical Turkish chickpea recipe?

Chickpeas are very popular in stews and soups (see: manti soup, yoghurt soup or sour purslane stew). However, when people in Turkey say "We're eating nohut (chickpeas) today", they certainly mean our Turkish chickpea stew. 

The Turkish chickpeas recipe is very similar in most households. You need chickpeas, tomato paste* and/or pepper paste*, oil and onions. Especially in summer, you can also add a few fresh peppers or tomatoes to the Turkish-style chickpea stew. We have done the same with this chickpea recipe. Our Turkish-style chickpea recipe is also meat-free, hence the name 'etsiz'. However, especially in winter, Turkish chickpea stew is also good with beef cubes or lamb on the bone.

Chickpeas from the tin or soak them?

We have already mentioned it in our Turkish bean stew: we are not big fans of canned vegetables. The taste is always best if you soak chickpeas the night before or in the morning. It is particularly practical if you soak a large quantity once and then put them in the freezer. This way, you can also spontaneously cook our Turkish chickpea stew or use a few chickpeas as a soup garnish. It's best to use a pressure cooker* to make sure they are really soft. 

However, you can of course also cook the Turkish chickpea recipe with tinned chickpeas. 

This goes well with our Turkish chickpea stew

Nohut yemegi is a typical Turkish dinner that is served throughout the country. It goes well with other Turkish classics such as yogurt, bread, salad, rice or bulgur pilaf. Quartered onions, which you eat slice by slice, are also an excellent side dish. 

Incidentally, our chickpea stew can be vegan. However, because we still have fat tail fat from our qurbani, we have used this as a bombastic flavoring agent. You can of course use olive oil, sunflower oil or margarine instead. But as with any Turkish stew, butter makes everything better. 

Nohut recipe without meat: Turkish-style chickpea stew

Preparation

-Soak the chickpeas in water for at least 12 hours before preparation.

Step 1: Chop the onion and fry in 2 tbsp oil until translucent. Meanwhile, chop the peppers and tomatoes.

Step 2: Add the peppers to the glazed onions, mix everything together and allow the peppers to steam briefly.

Step 3: Now add the drained chickpeas to the pan. Add a tablespoon of butter and the pepper paste*. Mix everything together and make sure that the pepper paste is distributed everywhere. Then add a pinch of cumin*, the tomatoes, salt and pepper. Mix everything together.

Step 4: Once the tomatoes have watered a little, cover everything with water. It should be about 1 cm or 1/2 inch above the ingredients. Cook the Turkish chickpea stew until the chickpeas are done.

In a pressure cooker*, this only takes 15 to 20 minutes. If you have used tinned chickpeas, the Turkish-style chickpea stew can of course be cooked for even less time.