Hello guys and welcome to Akis Kitchen! I’m very happy for today’s recipe as we
will show you how to make a super traditional Greek dish, called “revithada”
or chickpea stew! Chunky, saucy, aromatic, it is full of herbs
and veggies with valuable nutrients! Follow my instructions exactly
and you will have a complete, healthy meal! So, let’s begin! First of all, we have to prepare the chickpeas. Chickpeas are my favorite legume so please,
make this recipe and you will love it! We need to prepare them. To prepare the chickpeas, you need just a
little bit of salt…and a good amount of cold water to soak them. Now, we have to be patient and we have
to soak them for about 6 hours until they double in volume and become very soft. After six hours, the chickpeas will look like this. You have to make this procedure if you want
to have sexy, nice chickpeas. This is how they were and this is how
they will be after six hours, ok? You can even eat them like this! They’re not so tasty but you can eat them. So, they are very soft and nice. Now, it’s time to drain them. If you can leave them more than six hours
into the water, because it is a good question and you have to ask me that,
I’m telling you that you cannot. Because after six hours,
the chickpeas become very, very soft and they actually start smelling very bad. So, six hours is the best time. Now, drain them… and wash them very well. Under cold water, wash them. Because you have to remember
that we never boil legumes with salt. If we do that, then the skin becomes very
hard and the inside becomes very soft. So, we add the salt only five to ten minutes
before our food is ready. You got it? Perfect! Now, let’s prepare everything. I have a pot here
and we need to make it extremely hot. Now, I have some lovely veggies here… and probably you’re using all of these veggies in everything you’re doing,
but this is a classic Greek dish and I have to do it in the traditional way. So, we need an onion. Chop it. I love this dish because it is so easy
to make and it’s full of healthy ingredients. All these veggies and, of course, chickpeas.
Chickpeas are a superfood because they have a lot of protein and many fibers,
and many vitamins. They have everything. Actually, you don’t need any meat with chickpeas. Chickpeas give you everything you need. Now, I have some celery
because we also need to make our food tasty. This is the minimum amount of celery that you will use. You can use more if you want, but I think
this should be enough for the taste. Now, two carrots. We’re making something healthy
so we want to keep the skin on. Because if you don’t know, all the vitamins
from the carrots are on the skin. So, I will quarter them lengthwise
and then I will cut into small pieces. Carrots are also ready. And you can make your mise en place
before you start cooking. You can have everything ready. And now it’s time for extra virgin Greek
olive oil but not too much, because we will add a lot of olive oil
after our food is ready. We don’t want to cook it,
we want the olive oil to be raw. Onion, celery, garlic, carrots, everything
goes into the pot and it’s time for a good caramelization. We like the caramelization,
we like the veggies to become sexy and take out all this natural sugar they have. Now, stir this way and you have to be patient
for about five to seven minutes until they are completely caramelized. And my veggies are ready. It’s time to add the chickpeas. Some chicken stock. Some lemon zest… because we want to have this citrus flavor. One, two… And of course, who is the best
friend of lemon? Rosemary! And I will add some thyme... and of course, some rosemary. As I told you, we are not going to add
any salt because if we do that, the chickpeas will not boil correctly
and we have to be patient. I will put the lid on and I will boil them
for about one hour, but that depends on the quality of the chickpeas. Sometimes, I’m buying chickpeas
and in half an hour, they are ready. Sometimes, I keep boiling them
and after one and a half hours, they are ready. So, please check all the time
how the texture of the chickpeas is. And if they are soft and nice, they are ready. And my chickpeas are ready. I will take it off the heat. And now, it’s time for the final touches. First of all, I want to show you
how the juice inside the pot is. Can you see that? It’s quite runny, we want to make it thicker. And how will you do that? Very easy. You will take a mixer, you will add one ladleful
of chickpeas…maybe a little bit more. maybe a little bit more. You will add five tablespoons
of extra virgin Greek olive oil. You will add good amount of salt and pepper. The juice from two lemons. It’s quite lemony, this food…”revithada”. Revithada is for “revithia” which actually
means chickpeas in Greek. So, revithada is chickpea stew. Yes… So, mix everything together. And it’s time to add this loveliness
inside the chickpeas. Now, this light mash will make the sauce thicker
and this is something we want. Mix everything together…and look at this! This is lovely. This is beauty. This is amazing. This is exactly
how they should look like and taste. Taste the seasoning, salt and pepper. Oh, my God! This food is actually one of my favorite foods. I know that you will probably think: “Ok,
what did he put inside this pot? Carrot, celery, onion, chickpeas…
Ok, I know this flavor.” But you don’t know
until the moment you try it, trust me! Now, it’s time to serve. I have a nice dish here. And don’t be cheap-y,
add a good amount of chickpeas. And a good amount of sauce,
because it’s nice. And look at this! A splash of extra virgin Greek olive oil,
because olive oil is always good. Some pepper, freshly ground. And if you want, you can give an option
to your customers to add more lemon to their dish. And why not... a little bit of dill. It’s always a good idea. This is it! I can live only with this food. It’s one of my favorite dishes,
it’s comfort food, it’s extra traditional Greek food and you have to try it! You have to subscribe to my channel
and please make comments underneath the video, I want to see your comments. And what else? You have to try this recipe,
send me some photos. See you next time, bye bye!
Yia sas!
Nice. I’ll be trying this with vegetable stock and without the olive oil. (I follow the Esselstyn Diet, so oil is out.) I’ll bet it will still taste wonderful.