Skillet Chickpeas and Collards with Cumin and Skyr Stirred Through
Chickpeas crisped in cumin and coriander with onion, garlic, and burst cherry tomatoes, collard ribbons wilted in, and cold skyr stirred through off the heat.
Why You'll Love This Recipe
A bunch of greens, two cans in the cupboard, and no interest whatsoever in anything sweet is where this starts. It takes about half an hour, it comes out of one pan, and the whole thing costs very little. I make it most often in late winter, when collards are cheap and heavy and everything else in the vegetable drawer looks tired. It is also the recipe I hand to people who tell me they want to eat more beans and cannot work out how to do it before ten in the morning.
Drying the chickpeas is the step that decides how this dish turns out. Straight from the can they are wet, and wet beans in hot oil steam rather than crisp, which gives you a soft mealy skillet. Ten minutes on a towel and then a hard sear in a wide pan gives you skins that blister and split and go faintly nutty. The spices go in after, into the oil rather than onto the beans, so they bloom and coat everything. Collards need almost no time once the leaves are cut thin, and the tomatoes burst into what becomes the sauce.
The skyr is the move that makes it a breakfast rather than a side dish. Stirred in off the heat, in big spoonfuls, it loosens against the hot beans and turns the pan juices into something creamy and tangy without ever fully mixing in, so you get white streaks and cool bites against the warm spice. Lemon, cilantro, and toasted sesame land on top. It is filling in a way that surprises people, and it holds four adults through a long morning without any trouble.
Ingredients
- 2 (15 oz) cans chickpeas, drained, rinsed, and patted dry
- 1 small bunch collard greens (about 8 oz), ribs removed, leaves rolled and cut into thin ribbons
- 2 cups plain nonfat skyr
- 1 1/2 cups cherry tomatoes, halved
- 1 medium yellow onion, finely diced
- 5 garlic cloves, thinly sliced
- 1 tbsp ground cumin
- 1 1/2 tsp coriander seed, lightly crushed
- 1 tsp ground turmeric
- 1/4 tsp cayenne
- 2 tbsp extra-virgin olive oil
- 1 1/2 tbsp fresh lemon juice
- 2 tbsp sesame seeds, toasted
- 1/4 cup chopped cilantro
- 1/2 tsp black pepper
- 1/8 tsp fine sea salt
Instructions
- Dry the chickpeas properly: Drain and rinse the chickpeas, then spread them on a clean towel and roll them gently to take off the surface water. Give them ten minutes to air-dry while you cut everything else. This is what lets them blister rather than steam.
- Blister the chickpeas: Heat the olive oil in a twelve-inch skillet over medium-high until it shimmers. Add the chickpeas in one layer with the salt and leave them alone for three minutes, then stir and cook six to eight minutes more, until many of them are golden, some skins have split, and you can hear them rattling against the pan.
- Build the spice base: Push the chickpeas to one side, add the onion to the clear space, and cook three minutes until it softens. Stir in the garlic, cumin, crushed coriander, turmeric, cayenne, and black pepper and cook ninety seconds, stirring constantly, until the pan smells strongly of toasted cumin and the turmeric has stained everything gold.
- Burst the tomatoes: Add the cherry tomatoes cut side down and press them lightly with the back of a spoon. Cook three to four minutes without stirring much, until they slump, split, and release their juice, which will pick up all the spice stuck to the bottom of the pan.
- Wilt the collards: Add the collard ribbons in two handfuls, folding each one in until it darkens and collapses before adding the next. Cook two to three minutes total, just until the leaves are glossy and tender but still distinctly green. Take the pan off the burner.
- Stir the skyr through: Let the pan sit off the heat for two full minutes so it stops sizzling, then add the skyr in large spoonfuls along with the lemon juice. Fold it through with three or four strokes only, leaving visible white streaks. Scatter the sesame seeds and cilantro over the top and serve straight from the pan.
Variations
- Egg on top: Fry or poach an egg for each bowl and set it on the skillet just before the sesame goes on, so the yolk runs into the beans.
- Tahini rather than sesame seeds: Thin two tablespoons of tahini with lemon juice and water and drizzle it over the finished pan for a heavier, nuttier version.
- Smoky and paprika-led: Swap the cumin and coriander for a tablespoon of smoked paprika, which pushes the whole skillet toward something closer to a Spanish pan of beans.
- Herb-heavy: Finish with a large handful of chopped mint and dill along with the cilantro for a fresher, greener bowl.
- Sweet potato: Add a cup of small-diced sweet potato with the onion and give it eight extra minutes, which makes the skillet heavier and a little sweet.
Storage & Leftovers
The chickpeas and greens keep five days sealed in the refrigerator, and the spice deepens noticeably overnight. Store them without the skyr if you can, since dairy stirred in and then chilled goes watery as it sits and the beans absorb it. Keep the sesame seeds in a jar on the counter so they stay crisp.
Reheat the bean and greens base in a skillet over medium heat for three or four minutes, adding a splash of water to loosen it, then take the pan off and stir in cold skyr fresh. Reheating a portion that already has the dairy in it works, but the sauce breaks slightly and looks curdled even though it tastes fine.
The base freezes for three months in flat sealed portions. The chickpeas soften in the freezer and will not be crisp again, so treat a frozen batch as a stew rather than a skillet. Thaw overnight, warm it through, and stir in the skyr and a fresh squeeze of lemon at the end.
Notes & Tips
- Dry beans blister, wet beans steam: Ten minutes on a towel is the whole trick. Skipping it is the difference between golden split skins and a soft, pale pan.
- Bloom the spices in oil: Ground cumin thrown over the beans tastes dusty. Given ninety seconds in hot oil it turns toasty and coats everything evenly.
- Cut the collards thin: Rolled leaves sliced into ribbons a quarter inch wide cook in two minutes. Torn pieces take four times as long and go leathery in places.
- Let the pan stop sizzling: Two minutes off the burner before the skyr goes in is what keeps the sauce smooth. You are listening for silence, not watching a clock.
- Toast the sesame seeds separately: A dry pan over medium heat, shaken constantly for two minutes until they smell nutty and a few start to jump. They burn in seconds after that.
- Taste before you add salt: Canned chickpeas carry their own salt even after rinsing, and the pan concentrates it. Taste at the end, after the lemon.
Nutrition & Mindful Eating
- Chickpeas, collards, and skyr cover different ground in one pan. The beans bring the fiber and a good share of the protein, the collards bring calcium and bulk for very little else, and the skyr adds the tang along with more protein and more calcium still.
- Collard greens are one of the best plant sources of calcium there is, and the calcium in them is absorbed well because the leaves are low in the oxalates that tie it up in some other greens. Cut thin and wilted fast, they stay green and sweet.
- Chickpeas hold their shape and their skins through a hard sear, which is where the nutty blistered flavor comes from, and their soluble fiber is the kind that feeds the bacteria in your gut.
- Cumin, coriander, and turmeric bloomed in hot oil are what you smell first and taste longest. Turmeric brings the curcumin it is known for and stains everything gold, and cumin itself carries a surprising amount of iron and calcium for a spice.
- A pan this full of beans and greens holds you a long time. The fiber and the protein are doing that together, and the skyr stirred in at the end makes it eat like a richer dish than the ingredient list suggests.
- As you eat, find the spots where the cold skyr sits against a hot blistered chickpea, notice how the lemon lifts the cumin, and give yourself long enough at the table to feel the meal settle.
Frequently Asked Questions
Can I use dried chickpeas?
Yes, and they blister even better. Soak a cup and a half overnight, simmer them until tender but not falling apart, then drain and dry them the same way. Cooked from dried they hold their shape more firmly, so give them an extra minute or two in the pan.
Can I swap the collards?
Kale, mustard greens, and swiss chard all work. Kale behaves almost the same. Mustard greens bring a peppery bite that stands up well to the cumin. Chard is more delicate, so add it in the last minute and expect a wetter pan, since chard holds more water.
Why did my skyr look curdled?
The pan was still too hot. Dairy this thick will split if it hits a sizzling surface, so let the skillet rest off the burner for two minutes until the sound stops. Stirring less also helps, since the streaks are what you want anyway.
Can I make this the night before?
The base, yes, and it is genuinely good cold. Cook everything through the collards, cool it, and refrigerate. In the morning warm it in a pan for a few minutes and stir the skyr through then, which takes about five minutes start to finish.