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Sweetly Spiced Onions and Chickpeas (Schlada tfaya)

This dish is sweetly spiced, with an incredible richness from the onions, and a pleasing texture from the chickpeas. It's based on a Moroccan dish called schlada tfaya that uses cinnamon and turmeric as the prominent spices. I ended up becoming impatient and not fully caramelizing the onions (I cooked them for about 30 minutes), and still they offered a lovely sweetness and butteriness. We enjoyed this with rice, tomato, cucumber raita, and parsley flatbread, but it could be included in wraps, piled on top of yogurt and eaten with flatbread, eaten with couscous or simply enjoyed by the spoonful (it's that good).

Ingredients

  • 1 1/2 sweet onions, cut in half and sliced into thin crescents
  • 1 can chickpeas or about two cups cooked
  • 1/4 cup dried currants
  • 2 Tbsp ghee or cooking oil
  • 1/2 tsp turmeric powder
  • 1/2 tsp cinnamon powder
  • 1 pinch ginger powder
  • 1/2 tsp salt
  • freshly ground pepper, to taste

Instructions

  1. Heat oil in a medium skillet until it shimmers and pops when water is splashed into it. Add onions, and turn heat to low-medium. Cook, stirring occasionally, until onions are uniformly brow, about 30-45 minutes.

  2. Place currants in a bowl and cover with water. Allow to soak for about 30 minutes until plump. Drain well.

  3. Drain and rinse chickpeas thoroughly. Add to the onions along with spices. Stir, allowing the mixture to cook for another couple of minutes. Move into serving bowl and mix in the currants. Taste and add salt if needed.