Fabada Asturiana – Spanish chickpea stew

Ingredients for 4 servings:

• 350 g pork loin (Kasseler Kamm)
• 1 kg chicken thighs
• 1.2 liters of water
• 300g chorizo
• 250 g black pudding (morcilla)
• 4 medium-sized potatoes, floury
• 2 cans of chickpeas (400 g each)
• 1 onion(s)
• 3 large garlic cloves
• Saffron threads
• 2 tsp paprika powder
• 2 bay leaves
• salt and pepper
• olive oil

Instructions

Working time approx. 30 minutes; Cooking/baking time approx. 1 hour 45 minutes; Total time approx. 2 hours 15 minutes

First, bring the chicken thighs to a boil in 1.2 liters of water and simmer for about 30 minutes. Set the chicken thighs aside to cool. Reserve the resulting chicken stock to use in the stew. Meanwhile, peel the potatoes and cut them into small cubes. Cut the chorizo ​​and smoked pork into bite-sized pieces, finely chop the garlic cloves, and peel the onion. Sauté the diced smoked pork in a little olive oil, add the garlic, and pour in all of the chicken stock. Now add the diced potatoes and simmer for 15 minutes. Next, add the chorizo, the whole black puddings, the whole onion, the chickpeas, paprika, a few threads of saffron, and the bay leaves. Cover and simmer on low heat for 1 hour. Meanwhile, remove the skin from the chicken thighs (you won’t need it), shred the meat, and add it to the stew. Remove the onion and season the stew with salt and pepper. If you’d like the stew a little thicker, take some of the broth and chickpeas, puree them, and add them back to the stew. My recommendation is to prepare the stew the day before. It tastes so much better the next day. Cut the black pudding into pieces and garnish each serving with 2-3 pieces—for me, that’s the icing on the cake.