Tasty Chickpeas
Chickpeas by themselves are rather bland, but can we prepare chickpeas (also known as garbanzo beans) in a way that makes them tasty? I believed it was possible and went forth and made it so!
Hey, I love these little suckers, and use them in a multitude of ways every week. My favorite way to eat them by far is in Chickpea Salad, which I’m making 2x per week lately. I add garbanzo beans soups, use them as salad toppings, or roast them with spices and grub them down as popcorn snacks. What can I say… garbanzo beans are one of my favorite things to eat these days.
The issue is that they come in a can — certainly more convenient than soaking then cooking dried beans (you have to plan your meal far in advice), but the texture and taste from chickpeas out of a can is nothing compared to what they taste like when you make them yourself. Not only is the taste better, you save crazy amounts of money.
Dried chickpeas provide you with far greater flexibility in seasonings, plus you keep your money in your pocket like I said. You can buy a 15.5 oz can of chickpeas for between $0.89 and $1.89 (depending on where you buy and if they are organic or not). However, you can buy an entire pound of garbanzo beans for as little as $1.29! I’ve seen them. The natural foods store closest to me sells them for $1.69 per pound in the bulk bins, but I buy mine at the Indian store for $1.29 per pound.
Here is how I make chickpeas, which I do once per week, to make enough for hummus, my chickpea salad (I be jonesin for that stuff!) or just to throw into soup.
- 2 cups dry chickpeas
- 4 cups water
- 2 peeled carrots, cut into thirds
- 2 shallots (not green onions, the brown oniony garlicky shallots)
- ½ onion, cut into several wedges
- 12 black peppercorns
- 2 stalks celery, trimmed and cut in half
- ½ herbal vegetable bouillon cube
- 6-7 cups water
- 3 stems fresh thyme
- ½ tsp sea salt
- Measure out 2 cups of chickpeas (dry beans) into bowl and cover with water. Let soak overnight for 10-12 hours.
- Drain and rinse. Place into pot with 6-7 cups of water. You want to have twice as much water as chickpeas. That means if your chickpeas come up to 1” in the pot, you want to have another 2” of water.
- Add the remaining ingredients except salt. Stir, cover pot, and bring to boil.
- Lower heat to simmer, and let cook about 30 minutes. Add salt and stir. Return pot to heat to cook another 20-30 minutes. Beans should still have some firmness, but easily smash between two fingers.
Category: Side Dishes
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