Ciceri e tria is Puglia's Salento region's ancient pasta-and-chickpea dish with a twist that makes it unique in all of Italian cooking: a portion of the fresh pasta is deep-fried until crisp and shattered over the soft, stewed remainder, creating a textural contrast of crunchy and tender in every spoonful. The dish's name reveals its antiquity—'tria' derives from the Arabic 'itriyya' (dried pasta), a linguistic fossil from the Arab presence in southern Italy that predates the Italianization of pasta terminology. The preparation begins with dried chickpeas, soaked overnight and simmered for hours with garlic, bay leaf, and a soffritto of onion, celery, and tomato until they are creamy and their cooking liquid is thick and starchy. Meanwhile, fresh pasta (flour and water, no egg—this is Puglia) is rolled and cut into irregular flat ribbons (lagane or tria). Two-thirds of the pasta is cooked in salted water, drained, and stirred into the chickpea stew. The remaining third is deep-fried in olive oil until golden and crisp, then scattered over the top of each serving. The dish is eaten immediately, before the fried pasta softens. The combination of soft, starchy chickpeas, tender boiled pasta, and shattering fried pasta in a single bowl is extraordinary—three distinct textures from essentially two ingredients. Ciceri e tria is traditional food for the feast of San Giuseppe (March 19th) in the Salento, though it's prepared year-round. It is entirely vegan in its traditional form.
Chickpeas soaked overnight and slow-simmered until creamy. Fresh flour-and-water pasta (no egg). Two-thirds boiled and added to chickpeas. One-third deep-fried until crisp. Serve immediately with fried pasta on top. The textural contrast is the entire point.
A pinch of baking soda in the chickpea cooking water helps them break down into creaminess. The frying oil should be extra-virgin olive oil for authenticity and flavour (Puglia's liquid gold). The fried pasta should be drained on paper and added at the absolute last second. A drizzle of raw olive oil over the finished dish is traditional.
Using canned chickpeas (wrong texture and no starchy broth). Frying the pasta too early (it softens if it sits). Using egg pasta (not traditional, wrong texture). Making the chickpea stew too thin (should be thick and starchy). Mixing in the fried pasta (must be placed on top at serving).
Touring Club Italiano, Puglia in Cucina; Oretta Zanini De Vita, Encyclopedia of Pasta