Garbanzo beans are tasty and healthy! They contain an unusual combination of protein and fiber and a generous supply of antioxidants. They’ve been linked to decreased cardiovascular risk, they regulate your blood sugar and they help with weight management by curbing your appetite. It doesn’t get any better than that! There are a thousand ways to eat them. When it’s cold outside I often make this healthy garbanzo soup.
My mom was obsessed with preparing meals as quickly as possible. So when making one of her favorite dishes, garbanzo beans, she used a pressure cooker instead of soaking the beans for hours in advance. In this loud and magical device, they were ready in about 20 minutes. Today's Instant Pot will achieve the same results. But I prefer making my garbanzos the long way, soaking them overnight and cooking them for a couple of hours.
Of course If you’re running short on time and you don’t have a pressure cooker or Instant Pot, you can always use canned beans. If they’ve been packaged with salt or other additives, be sure to rinse them before using. The canned beans only need to be heated briefly and can be added to the sofrito mixture with enough water to create a soup.
Ingredients
1 lb bag of dried garbanzo beans soaked for 8 hours
2 tbsp olive oil
3 bell peppers coarsely chopped
1 large onion chopped
10 garlic cloves chopped
4 tomatoes coarsely chopped
1 small can of tomato paste
½ tsp. paprika
pinch of saffron
6 large Swiss chard leaves coarsely chopped, stems removed
1 tsp of salt
1 bunch scallions finely chopped
Directions
In a large soup pot, soak the beans overnight, covering them with a couple of inches of water for absorption.
The next day, add 4 cups of water and bring to a boil before setting the flame on medium low. In a separate saucepan on medium heat make the sofrito.
sofrito
In a medium saucepan, add oil, peppers, onion, garlic cloves and cook for 5-8 minutes until the onions turn golden. Add tomatoes and cook for another 5 minutes. Stir in the tomato paste, sprinkle paprika, saffron and salt.
Combine this mixture with the garbanzo beans. In low heat, simmer for 2 hours. Add Swiss chard and cook for 5 more minutes. Serve and top with scallions.
