1/2 cup by volume dried chickpeas
1/2 litre boiling water
1 vegetable stock cube
1/2 litre cold water
1 tbs vegetable oil
1 large onion
large chunk butternut squash
A few mushrooms (up to 1/3 large punnet)
I broccoli stem (you can add some florets if you like, but I didn't)
2 cloves garlic
1 tin chopped tomatoes
Seasoning to taste - I used pepper, mixed herbs and a teaspoonful of vinegar - the stock cube meant it didn't need salt.
Soak the chickpeas in boiling water for at least an hour, ideally more. Then drain and rinse, and put in a pressure cooker or Instant Pot with the stock cube and cold water and cook on high for 12 minutes, allowing it to come down from pressure at room temperature. You can, of course, boil the chickpeas on the stove, but that will take at least 45 minutes to an hour, Or, of course, you could use a large tin.
In the meantime, chop the onion and sweat in the oil for a few minutes while you peel and chop the rest of the vegetables. Add them to the pot, and stir, allowing them to sweat a bit. Now take about 1/3 of the chickpeas and some of their cooking water and blitz until smooth. Add this to the pot, plus the tinned tomatoes and as much of the rest of the chickpea liquid as you need to rinse out the tin of tomatoes. If you are using tinned chickpeas, use cold water for this, unless you actively like aquafaba, which I don't!
Season to taste, and then bring to the boil and allow to simmer for about 30 minutes. This will serve 3 or 4, especially if you add rice or quinoa or similar. I used quinoa to add more protein.
I think, were I to make it again, I'd use a small tin of chickpeas to blitz up and thicken it, as I didn't think there were quite enough chickpeas left. As I have a lot of the stew left over, I'll add a small tin to it before we have it again.
