Harissa Chickpeas with Garlic Yoghurt

Ingredients

• 2 x 400g tins chickpeas, drained and rinsed
• 2 tbsp rose harissa paste, jarred
• 2 tbsp olive oil
• 4 cloves garlic, finely sliced
• 1 x 400g tin chopped tomatoes
• 1 tsp cumin seeds
• 100 g baby spinach
• 1 lemon, zested and juiced
• 200 g Greek yogurt
• 4 flatbreads or pittas
• 20 g fresh coriander, roughly chopped
• 1 tsp chilli flakes
• Flatbreads or pittas, warmed, to serve
• Simple cucumber and tomato salad, to serve
• Pickled chillies, to serve

Method

1. Warm the olive oil in a wide, heavy pan over medium heat. Add the cumin seeds and let them sizzle for 30–60 seconds until fragrant and one shade darker — bloomed seeds taste of themselves; raw seeds taste dusty.
2. Drop in the sliced garlic and cook for no more than 30 seconds, just until fragrant and pale gold. Don't burn it — burnt garlic turns the whole stew bitter, and there's no rescuing it.
3. Stir in the harissa paste and cook for another 30 seconds until it darkens and the oil runs red around the edges. This is where the paste loses its raw edge.
4. Tip in the chickpeas and chopped tomatoes with a splash of water — the liquid breaks the tomatoes down so they taste of fruit, not tin. Season with salt and pepper, going lighter than usual because the harissa already carries salt, and simmer for 8–10 minutes until thick and glossy with oil pooling at the surface.
5. Stir through the spinach and cook for a minute until just wilted. Add the lemon zest and a generous squeeze of lemon juice — about half the lemon — then taste and adjust. Taste again. Salt and acid get fixed now, not at the table.
6. While the stew settles, mix the Greek yoghurt with the remaining lemon juice, a grated clove of garlic and a pinch of salt. Sharp, cold, garlicky — the counterweight to the harissa heat.
7. Warm the flatbreads in a dry pan for 30 seconds a side, until soft and lightly blistered.
8. To serve: tear the flatbreads onto plates, spoon the harissa chickpeas over, dollop generously with the garlic yoghurt, scatter with the chopped coriander and a dusting of chilli flakes. Cucumber-tomato salad and pickled chillies alongside.