Loading ...Tomatoes Stuffed With Chickpeas
By: Habeeb Salloum/Arab America Contributing Writer
In the Mediterranean lands vegetables are usually stuffed with meat. However, chickpeas make a healthy substitute.
This was the case with our family in the early years of immigration to the western lands of Canada. The prairies were hard-hit with about 10 years of drought not too long after my parents began their homesteading years in Saskatchewan. Since meat was a luxury food item during that period, more than many times chickpeas served their purpose as its replacement.
And there were no complaints – whatever Mother stuffed with chickpeas was just as tasty as her stuffings made with meat.
These stuffed tomatoes are excellent served with mashed potatoes or cooked rice.
Serves 6
12 medium tomatoes, ripe but slightly firm
1/4 cup olive oil
2 medium onions, chopped
4 cloves garlic, crushed
1/4 cup pine nuts or slivered almonds
1/4 cup finely chopped fresh coriander leaves (cilantro)
2 cups well-cooked chickpeas
2 teaspoons salt
1 teaspoon pepper
1/2 teaspoon allspice
1/2 teaspoon cumin
1/4 teaspoon cayenne
2 tablespoons butter
Cut off tomato tops then scoop out the pulp with a spoon. (Reserve both the cut tops and pulp.) Set aside.
Heat oil in a frying pan, then sauté onions and garlic over medium heat until they begin to brown. Stir in pine nuts or slivered almonds and coriander leaves, then stir-fry for 5 minutes. Remove from heat then stir in remaining ingredients, except 1 teaspoon of the salt and 1/2 teaspoon of the pepper and butter. Fill tomatoes with this mixture then replace the tops.
Place tomatoes standing up in a casserole. Combine tomato pulp with the remaining salt and pepper then spoon evenly in between tomatoes. Place a little of the butter on each of the tomatoes, then bake covered in a 350oF preheated oven for 30 minutes or until tomatoes are cooked.
Serve tomatoes hot with some of the juice spooned on top. Excellent served with mashed potatoes or cooked rice.
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