Garbanzos cooked with chiles and tomatoes

This is a middle eastern dish that I have adapted. In the photo I have added some more liquid because I didn't cook the garbanzos enough and they were a little hard. It should be a dry dish. The original doesn't use bacon. If you don't eat meat, leave it out and cook the vegetables in a tablespoon of olive oil instead. I started with a cup of dry garbanzos and cooked them in plain water, you can use canned garbanzos instead, just rinse them first. If you are looking for garbanzos in Mèrida, they are in canned vegetable section not the canned bean section, I have noticed that some brands have sugar, so you might want to check the labels first. I buy bacon in chunks for cooking. Ask for un trozo de tosino , rebanado means sliced.

100 grams diced bacon
2 cups of cooked garbanzos
6 roma tomatoes diced
1 white onion diced
2 jalapeños diced (I also seed and devein them)
4-6 cloves garlic diced
1/4 cup chopped cilantro
1 tablespoon ground cumin
1 tablespoon ground cilantro seeds
salt to taste
pepper to taste


In a large frying pan, cook the bacon until it's done, but not crispy. Add the onions, garlic, jalapeños, ground cumino and cilantro seeds to the pan. Fry until the onion is limp but not browned. Add the remaining ingredients. Turn heat down to simmer and cook uncovered until the pan is dry.