Moroccan Chickpea Stew

1-16 oz bag of dry chickpeas (garbanzo beans) soaked overnight
1 yellow onion chopped fine, sautéed
4 stalks of celery chopped fine, sautéed
1 red bell chopped medium (or other mild red peppers) sautéed
4 red gypsy peppers or 2 red bells julienned, roasted then chopped
1 jalapeno pepper, seeded and chopped fine (I use gloves)
4 garlic cloves chopped fine
3 lbs fresh tomatoes, chopped, I used tomatoes from my garden
2 tbsp apple cider vinegar
2 tbsp brown sugar
2 tsp ground cumin
1 tsp cinnamon
1 tsp ground cardamom
salt and black pepper to taste
(potatoes and carrots may also be added)

Rinse and sort chickpeas, picking out any impurities. Dried chickpeas aren't easy to find, but I keep an eye out for them because they are so good for your health. Place chickpeas in a pot and cover with 3 inches of water and soak overnight. The same night I prepare the onions, celery, both groups of red peppers, jalapeno pepper, tomatoes, and garlic cloves.

The next morning, I drain the chickpeas, return to the stock pot, and add enough water to just barely cover the chickpeas. Cover and cook the beans on low to medium heat till tender. This will take some time; could be a couple of hours. The beauty of dried chickpeas is they are really hard, but that means they store well. You can substitute 2-3 cans of chickpeas but the dried are much better. Above are my gypsy peppers; they are so beautiful.

Above are sweet 100 tomatoes, so prolific. Once the chickpeas are tender, drain them again. Add all remaining ingredients and enough water to keep stew from burning. Cook approximately 45 minutes till stew ingredients are melded. I would like to serve this with some naan bread, but I'll have to learn how to make it gluten free. The stew could handle one more jalapeno, next time. I used all the ripe peppers and tomatoes from my garden for this recipe. I feel really good using all my homegrown fresh ingredients in a meal that will last quite a number of days. Gary called this a soup but really the consistency is too thick to be a soup, it's definitely a stew, very filling and satisfying.