Friday, February 9, 2018

Perfectly cooked chickpeas/garbanzo beans

Chickpea or garbanzo bean? I say chickpea. Except when I say garbanzo bean.

As I continue incorporating the Mediterranean ways into my way of cooking, via the Mediterranean diet, I'm becoming more familiar with these versatile legumes. Okay, who are we kidding, I am intimately familiar with hummus... and falafal. But I haven't really cooked with chickpeas myself. I just devour them at every Middle Eastern restaurant I visit.

homemade chickpeas
But not today.

Today we cook chickpeas from scratch.  And not in the Instant Pot, like I had originally planned when I bought the dang thing, because I've been burned too many times, now. Thanks Instant Pot/bean ruiner.

Chickpeas from scratch
1 lb. chickpeas
Small palmful Salt, approx. 1 teaspoon... maybe

First, sort and rinse chickpeas. Beans are packaged au natural. That means they haven't been washed and can include bits of grit. So I just pour the package into a colander and rinse while running my fingers through the beans, looking for anything unsavory. p.s. I've yet to find a rock, but I still do it.

Then, because I am not smart enough to pre-plan, quick soak the beans. If you are the type who is on top of things, you can soak your beans the night before. Or even sprout them. This is something I want to try as I'm really into fermenting. Just not, that into fermenting to have already tried it.

This means, bring eight cups of water to a boil in a large pot. Add 1 lb chickpeas to boiling water. Bring back to a boil and let boil for 3 minutes, or so. Remove pot from heat, cover, and let sit for an hour.

Now, this just gets us to soaked.  They aren't cooked yet.

Drain chickpeas.

Add enough fresh water to cover chickpeas by a couple inches and add your salt. Bring to boil. Reduce heat to simmer and let cook for 1 hour and 15 minutes. This results in a pleasantly tender, but not mush, chickpea.

Use in any number of dishes however you want. You can leave them as is, if you are eating the chickpeas whole, or you can cook them a bit more if you're going to mush them for hummus or even, dare I say it, refried beans for the more adventurous amongst us.

Stay tuned for all the chickpea fun.

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