Potaje de chícharos (green peas or chickpeas)
- ▪︎500 grams of chickpeas.
▪︎200 grams of bacon or bacon, or ham and chorizo, or simply pork cut into small pieces.
▪︎one to two tablespoons of tomato sauce.
▪︎a white or red onion.
▪︎cachucha peppers or a bell pepper.
▪︎garlic.
▪︎parsley.
▪︎spinach.
▪︎civet or chives.
▪︎corn.
▪︎taro.
▪︎squash.
▪︎potato. (ideally)
▪︎a pinch of cumin, oregano, pepper... salt to taste.
▪︎bay leaves and coriander.
▪︎a lime.
As a general rule in Cuba, the chickpeas sold at the bodega, that is to say the state grocery store, are hard to break the teeth. They must then be soaked the night before to ensure successful cooking.
If, on the other hand, it was of a guaranteed softer quality, a quarter of an hour of cooking would be enough and there would even be no need to soak it in water beforehand.
We will therefore finely chop the parsley, garlic, spinach and civet and then prepare the sofrito with the peppers, onion and pieces of pork which we will brown in the oil or lard and the tomato sauce.
When the sofrito is ready, we will mix everything with the boiled chickpeas and the small pieces of squash, taro, corn and, ideally, potato.
I said ideally because potatoes in Cuba are a luxury product that is very rare on the market.
A pinch of cumin, oregano, pepper and salt, plus two to three coriander and bay leaves go wonderfully with this soup that you will cook in a pressure cooker for about half an hour.
Let's not forget that these Cuban soups are always served with white rice. A nice slice of avocado and the juice of half a lime squeezed on it would be perfect to round out the final taste experience of a succulent, rich and very simple dish.
Published with permission from René Lopez Zayas - https://www.facebook.com/renelopezayas/
