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Leb Lebi

A Tunisian chickpea stew served with bread and topped with olive oil, olives, capers, and harissa.

From the Recipes Wiki (Fandom) · 13 ingredients
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Why it works: Chickpea and cumin match in chemistry and in kitchens. They rank in the top 1% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 473 recipes. Both carry linalool, which smells floral, citrus. The science ↓

Leb Lebi

Time18 minutes

Ingredients

Directions

Cook the chickpeas

  1. Rinse and drain the chickpeas. Place the chickpeas, stock, onions, oil, and caraway in the cooker.

  2. Lock the lid in place. Over high heat, bring to high pressure. Lower the heat just enough to maintain high pressure and cook for 18 minutes.

  3. Allow the pressure to come down naturally or use a quick-release method.

  4. Remove the lid, tilting it away from you to allow any excess steam to escape. If the chickpeas are not meltingly soft, either return to high pressure for a few more minutes or replace (but do not lock) the lid and simmer until the chickpeas are done. Add salt.

Assemble and serve

  1. To assemble each portion of leb lebi: Place the bread in a large soup bowl. Sprinkle the freshly ground cumin seeds on top. Ladle enough stock and chickpeas over the bread to thoroughly soften it. Stir in olive oil, olives, capers, and harissa before serving.

Nutrition, whole recipe (rough)

319Calories
9 gProtein
17 gFat
35 gCarbs

Counts 8 of 11 ingredients. The other 3 aren't in our nutrition table and add nothing above, so the real totals are higher.

What these numbers assume: 8 portions
IngredientPortion assumedkcal
Chickpea1/2 cup canned (120g) drained134
Olive Oil1 tbsp (14g)119
Onion1 medium (110g)44
Cumin1 tsp ground (2.1g)8
Chili1 tsp (2.7g)8
Olive1 large (4g)4
Capers1 tbsp (9g) drained2
Salt1 tsp (6g)0
Waternot in our table0
Seednot in our table0
Harissanot in our table0

One typical portion per ingredient; the recipe's quantities are not counted. A rough guide only, not for medical or dietary planning.

Recipe from the Recipes Wiki (Fandom).

Steps grouped into stages for easier reading; the method is the source's own.

Explore the science

The flavor team

The pairs that carry this dish. Each one is judged two ways: how much their aromas overlap, and how often cooks already put them together.

  1. Chickpea + cumintop 1% of all pairs
    Smell alikestrong
    Cooked together473 recipes

    Shared aroma: linalool (floral, citrus).

  2. Garlic + oniontop 1% of all pairs
    Smell alikestrong
    Cooked together29,058 recipes

    Shared aroma: furaneol (caramel, strawberry).

  3. Garlic + cumintop 1% of all pairs
    Smell alikestrong
    Cooked together5,082 recipes

    Shared aroma: beta-phellandrene (minty, terpene).

  4. Chickpea + garlictop 1% of all pairs
    Smell alikestrong
    Cooked together813 recipes

    Shared aroma: linalool (floral, citrus).

  5. Chickpea + caperstop 2% of all pairs
    Smell alikestrong
    Cooked together15 recipes

    Shared aroma: coumarin (sweet, hay).

Ranks compare each pair with 20,000 random ingredient pairs on CompKitchen. How we score pairs

What each ingredient does

Chickpeas
Provide the bulk of the dish and, once cooked soft, its creamy body.
Bread (in the method)
Soaks up the hot stock and chickpeas, becoming soft and giving the dish substance.
Onions
Break down during cooking, adding sweetness and savoury depth to the stock.
Caraway seed
Adds a warm, aromatic anise-like flavour to the cooking liquid.
Olive oil
Adds fat and richness, carrying flavour through the broth.

The step that matters

Cooking the chickpeas until meltingly soft. Dried chickpeas stay firm unless fully cooked under pressure or long simmering. Starch must gelatinise fully, or the chickpeas stay grainy and will not soften the bread properly.

Swap the harissa

How well each one fits the dish's main ingredients (chickpea, garlic, onion, olive, cumin, capers):

  1. Turmericfits better
  2. Oreganofits better
  3. Parsleyfits better
  4. Harissathe original

Fit is the average pairing score against chickpea, garlic, onion, olive, cumin, capers. Candidates are from the same food group and used in at least 100 recipes.

“What each ingredient does” and “The step that matters” were written by Claude from this recipe’s own method and reviewed in samples by CompKitchen.

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