450g home-cooked chickpeas (200g dry weight) or 2x 400g cans cooked chickpeas, drained and rinsed
4 tablespoons of olive oil
3 garlic cloves, thinly sliced
3 tablespoons Pomegranate Molasses
200ml cold water, or chickpea liquor and water
about 60 saffron threads, infused in 4 tablespoons boiling water
3 tablespoons roughly chopped fresh coriander
seeds of 1 pomegranate
sea salt and black pepper
Notes
To seed a pomegranate, firstly cut off the blossom. Now cut the pomegranate in half horizontally. Now, with the cut side up make 4-5 one inch equally spaced incisions around the half. Hold the pomegranate upside down in the palm of your hand and over a wide bowl (best to do this in the sink as it's quite messy process). Now whack the top of the pomegranate with the back of a spoon; the seeds will fall out between your fingers and into the bowl.
Source
Clark, Sam & Sam 2004 Casa Moro: The Second Cookbook, Ebury Press, London, pg 268.
Place a large saucepan over a medium heat and add the olive oil. When hot but not smoking, add the garlic and fry until nutty brown. Now add the drained chickpeas, pomegranate molasses, water and saffron infusion and simmer for 10 minutes. Stir in the coriander and season with salt and pepper. Finally, sprinkle in the pomegranate seeds. Taste and serve with fish or on its own as part of a selection of mezze.