Chickpea

Add the green beans to the salad just before serving so they do not discolor.

Crisp, freshly cooked shrimp are wrapped in prosciutto slices, then set atop a salad of roasted peppers, garbanzo beans and artichokes tossed with a tangy dressing.

An open-face knife-and-fork sandwich.

If you can't find the Moroccan spice blend at the supermarket, combine 1 tablespoon ground cumin with 1/4 teaspoon each of ground coriander, cinnamon, and cayenne pepper. Serve with: Romaine salad and bowls of mixed green and black olives. Dessert: Purchased apricot tart.

Can be prepared in 45 minutes or less.

If you don't have time to make your own hummus, buy some at the market or specialty foods store, and mix in chipotle chilies and cumin to taste.

Fine-grain bulgur, sometimes labeled "good for tabbouleh," is essential to this recipe, because coarsely ground bulgur will not soften when soaked in boiling water. A late-season tomato salad or sautéed cherry tomatoes with Indian flavors complete this meal.

Pairing chick-peas and Swiss chard is nothing new—Armenians have been doing it for generations. But with great tomatoes and a squeeze of lemon, this quick vegetable stew is as fresh as summer. If you can’t find Swiss chard, spinach is an authentic substitute.

This would serve four as a vegetarian entrée.

A mixed vegetable stew, seasoned with spices characteristic of Morocco. Serve it with rice or couscous.

Cooked dried chickpeas are firmer and more flavorful than canned. Active time: 45 min Start to finish: 3 hr Servings: Makes about 5 cups.

In this take on a classic salad, we combine bulgur with the usual tomatoes, green onions, parsley and mint, then add garbanzo beans and broiled lamb for a change of pace.

A one-pot Moroccan meal from Lotfi's in New York. Serve the stew with couscous or flat bread.

There is a historical reason why most Hanukkah menus offer foods that have been fried in oil. In the second century B.C., a one-day supply of oil inexplicably burned for eight days and eight nights after Judah Maccabee and his followers recaptured Jerusalem's Holy Temple from their Syrian oppressors. Hanukkah is the celebration of that miracle, and fried foods are served to commemorate the oil. In this country, the Eastern European potato latke is usually featured. These fritters are a Sephardic contribution to that tradition.

Kathy Lee, Valley Center, Calif.
If you can't find a package of thighs at the market, buy whole chickens. You (or the butcher) can cut up the chickens and freeze the leftover pieces for another use.