Chef Isabel
Cigrons a la Catalana
Cigrons a la Catalana are Catalonia's chickpeas cooked in a dark sofregit, loosened with their own broth, then thickened with almond-garlic picada while pine nuts and raisins give the sweet Catalan note.
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Olla Gitana Murciana
Created by
Olla Gitana is Murcian cocina de cuchara: chickpeas, pumpkin, green beans, and pear in a sweet-sour broth finished with vinegar and mint. The balance is the dish.
Soups & Stews
Spanish
Budget Friendly
Comfort Food
Make Ahead
25 min
Active Time
2 hr 15 min cook•14 hr 40 min total
Yield6 servings
Olla Gitana is Murcian, a meatless chickpea pot from the southeast where pumpkin, green beans, and a pear turn an ordinary olla into something unmistakably its own. This is cocina de cuchara, spoon food, but not a heavy winter stew. It has the softness of chickpeas and squash, then that little sweet-and-sour lift at the end. Without the vinegar, it's a vegetable pot. With it, it's Olla Gitana.
The method that decides it is timing. Cook the chickpeas until tender first, then add the vegetables in order so the green beans still have life, the pumpkin goes soft without collapsing into paste, and the pear gives sweetness without disappearing. Build the sofrito, the slow onion and tomato base, until it is dark gold and jammy before the pimentón touches it. That slow cook is where the broth gets depth without meat.
If you're far from Murcia, no hace falta haber pisado España. Use butternut squash for the calabaza, a firm pear that will not melt to water, and chickpeas cooked from dry if you can. Canned chickpeas are allowed when the day is against you, but rinse them and simmer them gently with the vegetables so they taste of the pot, not of the tin. Add the vinegar at the very end. Too early and it flattens into the broth and can keep the chickpeas stubborn.
My Margin beside this dish has only one warning: don't make it timid. It wants sweet pumpkin, enough salt, mint, and a clean splash of vinegar. Siempre sale, si lo sigues.
Olla Gitana belongs especially to Murcia and the southeastern huerta, where irrigated market gardens supplied green beans, pumpkin, pears, tomatoes, and pulses for meatless household pots. Its sweet-and-sour finish carries the old Andalusi taste for fruit, legumes, vinegar, and herbs in the same dish, a pattern that stayed naturally in the cooking of the region. The name points less to one fixed origin than to a rustic mixed pot, made from what the garden and pantry gave, with the vinegar and pear marking it clearly apart from neighboring chickpea stews.
The technique, the tradition, and the story behind every dish.
Discover Culinary ExplorerIngredients
dried chickpeas
Quantity
350g
soaked overnight
bay leaf
Quantity
1
water
Quantity
1.8 litres, plus more as needed
pumpkin or butternut squash
Quantity
300g
peeled and cut into 3cm chunks
green beans
Quantity
250g
trimmed and cut into 4cm pieces
waxy potatoes
Quantity
250g
peeled and cut into 3cm chunks
firm pear
Quantity
1
peeled, cored, and cut into 6 wedges
large onion
Quantity
1
finely chopped
ripe tomatoes or canned crushed tomato
Quantity
2 fresh tomatoes or 200g canned
grated if fresh
extra virgin olive oil
Quantity
4 tablespoons
garlic cloves
Quantity
3
finely chopped
sweet pimentón de la Vera
Quantity
1 teaspoon
saffron threads (optional)
Quantity
1 pinch
turmeric (optional)
Quantity
1/4 teaspoon
blanched almonds
Quantity
10g
fresh mint
Quantity
1 tablespoon chopped, plus more to finish
vinagre de Jerez or good wine vinegar
Quantity
1 tablespoon, plus more to taste
fine sea salt
Quantity
1 1/2 teaspoons, plus more to taste
black pepper (optional)
Quantity
to taste
| Ingredient | Quantity |
|---|---|
| dried chickpeassoaked overnight | 350g |
| bay leaf | 1 |
| water | 1.8 litres, plus more as needed |
| pumpkin or butternut squashpeeled and cut into 3cm chunks | 300g |
| green beanstrimmed and cut into 4cm pieces | 250g |
| waxy potatoespeeled and cut into 3cm chunks | 250g |
| firm pearpeeled, cored, and cut into 6 wedges | 1 |
| large onionfinely chopped | 1 |
| ripe tomatoes or canned crushed tomatograted if fresh | 2 fresh tomatoes or 200g canned |
| extra virgin olive oil | 4 tablespoons |
| garlic clovesfinely chopped | 3 |
| sweet pimentón de la Vera | 1 teaspoon |
| saffron threads (optional) | 1 pinch |
| turmeric (optional) | 1/4 teaspoon |
| blanched almonds | 10g |
| fresh mint | 1 tablespoon chopped, plus more to finish |
| vinagre de Jerez or good wine vinegar | 1 tablespoon, plus more to taste |
| fine sea salt | 1 1/2 teaspoons, plus more to taste |
| black pepper (optional) | to taste |
Equipment Needed
- •Large heavy olla or Dutch oven, 5 to 6 litres
- •Frying pan for the sofrito
- •Mortar and pestle
Instructions
- 1
Soak the chickpeas
Put the chickpeas in a large bowl, cover them with plenty of cold water, and leave them overnight. They should swell properly and look rounded, not wrinkled. Pésalo, no lo adivines: old chickpeas and a short soak are the two small mistakes that make a pot take forever.
- 2
Cook until tender
Drain the chickpeas and put them in a tall heavy pot with 1.8 litres fresh water and the bay leaf. Bring to a lively simmer, skim off the grey foam, then lower the heat and cook gently until the chickpeas are almost tender, usually 1 hour 30 minutes to 2 hours. They should give under your teeth but still hold their shape.
Keep the chickpeas just covered as they cook. Add hot water if the level drops too far; cold water slows the pot down. - 3
Build the sofrito
While the chickpeas cook, warm the olive oil in a frying pan over medium-low heat. Add the onion with a pinch of salt and cook slowly for 15 to 18 minutes, until dark gold, soft, and sweet. Stir in the garlic for 1 minute, then add the grated tomato and cook another 12 to 15 minutes until the oil begins to show at the edges. Take the pan off the heat before stirring in the pimentón, so it blooms red and fragrant without burning.
- 4
Add the vegetables
When the chickpeas are nearly tender, add the potato and green beans to the pot with 1 teaspoon of the salt. Simmer 10 minutes, then add the pumpkin and pear. Keep the pot at an easy simmer, not a hard boil, until the potato is tender and the pumpkin is soft at the edges but not dissolved, about 15 to 20 minutes.
- 5
Make the picada
Crush the almonds with the saffron and a spoonful of hot broth in a mortar until you have a rough paste. This picada, the little thickening paste, gives the broth body without making it heavy. Stir it into the sofrito, then scrape the whole pan into the chickpea pot.
- 6
Finish sweet-sour
Simmer everything together for 10 minutes so the sofrito stains the broth a warm brick-gold and the vegetables taste of one another. Turn off the heat, stir in the chopped mint and 1 tablespoon vinegar, then taste for salt and vinegar. The vinegar should brighten the sweetness of the pumpkin and pear, not shout over it. Let the olla rest 10 minutes before serving.
Chef Tips
- •Use dried chickpeas if you can. They give the broth body as they cook, and that matters in a meatless olla. If you use canned chickpeas, use three 400g tins, drained and rinsed, and start with 900ml water; simmer the vegetables first, then add the chickpeas for the last 20 minutes.
- •The pumpkin should be sweet and dense. In Murcia that means calabaza from the market; elsewhere butternut squash is the honest substitute. It will be a little sweeter and smoother, so cut it large and do not overcook it.
- •Use a firm pear, not a soft dessert pear that collapses. Conference, Bosc, or any firm cooking pear works. Apple is not the same dish; it gives sharpness but not the soft floral sweetness this olla wants.
- •Do not add the vinegar early. It belongs at the end, when the chickpeas are tender and the pumpkin has given its sweetness. Added too soon, it dulls and can make the chickpeas cook grudgingly.
- •This is better after a rest and very good the next day. The mint fades in the fridge, so add a little fresh mint when you reheat and taste again for vinegar.
Advance Preparation
- •Soak the chickpeas the night before in plenty of cold water; they need room to swell.
- •The whole stew can be made one day ahead. Cool it uncovered until no longer hot, refrigerate it, then reheat gently with a splash of water if the broth has thickened.
- •You can cook the chickpeas a day ahead in their broth. Add the vegetables, sofrito, mint, and vinegar on the day you serve it so the pumpkin and pear keep their shape.
Frequently Asked Questions
Nutrition Information
1 serving (about 510g)
Calories
405 calories
Total Fat
14 g
Saturated Fat
2 g
Trans Fat
0 g
Unsaturated Fat
12 g
Cholesterol
0 mg
Sodium
600 mg
Total Carbohydrates
61 g
Dietary Fiber
15 g
Sugars
14 g
Protein
14 g
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