Spanish-Style, Fried Garbanzo Beans
It’s 9 p.m.
Across the country, parents are curled over their kids reading bedtime stories. High schoolers are settling into their evening homework. Tired professionals are sinking into couches.
But in my small corner of the world, I’m just slipping through my apartment door. Or at least, that’s the way it usually plays out on weeknights. Being single, I’ve taken to filling my time with activities. I mix work, working out, happy hours, and volunteering—and I never get home early. Often when I do, I’m tired and ready for a rest, but an empty feeling gnawing at my stomach reminds me, I’m hungry.
This is a problem I’ve found best solved by one thing: a skillet of Spanish-style, fried garbanzo beans. That home-style dish has a wholesome, sweet spiciness that I usually choose over simple pasta.
I first learned of fried garbanzos at culinary school in San Sebastian, Spain. It was the one-hit wonder of the school’s worst student. A dish he mastered only because he’d spent a lifetime eating it. You see, in Spain there is a tradition of making midday meals of these golden legumes—garbanzos with spinach, garbanzos with chorizo. And consequently, there’s also a custom of eating leftover garbanzos for supper, and that’s the court in which the fried beans play. The worst student must have had a Spanish mama that was particularly fond of leftover suppers, because the day he turned out fried garbanzos in school, they were the perfect, practiced blend of warm, browned beans; light scrambled egg; and sweet, sautéed onions, red pepper, carrot, and garlic.
When I left Spain, and moved on to Boston, Peru, and finally back to Denver, I found myself frequently thinking back to those fried garbanzos. On nights when I needed a super simple supper, there they were. When I hadn’t been to the grocery store, I still had the ingredients for fried garbanzos. And best of all, the evenings that I felt the solitariness of being single, their warmth and density gave me something to lean on. In all my travels and all my moves, fried garbanzo beans have been the steadiest culinary companion.
Making them has even become second nature. I cry through the onions, marvel at how crunchy carrots never get easier to cut, and admire the bright brilliance of red pepper. I smell the sweet garlic as it browns and hear the garbanzos fry and pop. I rarely use a recipe, because no matter how much red pepper or parsley I add, this filling dish is a lovely companion to a light salad. The two will carry me through the evening, and if I’m lucky, there will be extras. So that when I return to my apartment the following evening, I’ll scoop the remaining garbaznos, at room temperature, over a bed of lettuce. It’s another easy supper for 9 p.m.
2 Comments to “Spanish-Style, Fried Garbanzo Beans”
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Love this post! Hey, who was that student? I don’t remember this dish! I’ve made a poorer version before and used them like refried beans…the other day, I made a “3 layer dip” with smashed white beans, simple guac with only chopped onions, and plain soy yogurt lightly over top…it was surprisingly yummy.talk soon.xoxo
Hmm, Yvette, sounds very interesting. Next time I need a picnic dip, I’ll have to think of this! (And I’m pretty sure that you’re the only one in Basque country making it!) Xo.