Name: Chickpea Omelet with Chicken (Mertzel)
Yield: Serves 6
Ingredients: freshly grated nutmeg (optional); 1 cup dried chickpeas, soaked overnight and drained; 1 boneless, skinless whole chicken breast, cooked and diced or shredded; 2 cloves garlic, minced; 3 tablespoons olive oil, plus more for drizzling; freshly ground pepper to taste; 1 teaspoon salt; ½ teaspoon sweet paprika; 4 cups water; 8 eggs; pinch of crushed saffron threads (optional)

Preparation info

Serves
6

Difficulty
Easy

Appears in

Saffron Shores

By Joyce Goldstein

Published 2002

About

Moroccan families serve this hearty omelet to break the Yom Kippur fast. Mertzel resembles a Spanish potato tortilla, but is made with chickpeas instead of potatoes. It is part of an old Sephardic omelet tradition that includes the Algerian meguina, made with vegetables, chicken, and eggs; the marcoude of Tunisia; and the almodrotes, fritadas, and quajados of the Greek and Turkish Jews. This version is a combination of recipes from La table juive an