I got carried away recently. I wrote a post that went on forever. Now, feeling much more sensible, I have split the post into three, so you can digest it (ha ha ha) more easily. This is the story of chickpeas. It is a prelude to a wonderful dish – Chickpea Chat with Chat Masala that is made with an equally wonderful masala. If you have read my previous marathon of a post, no need to read it again….
Chickpeas
Other Names
garbanzo beans
bengal gram
kabuli
chana
ceci (italian)
Amazing random facts
Most popular in the Middle Eastern dish hummus, chickpeas are a roundish, beige to light green members of the legume family. They are grown primarily in Asia, India, and in the Mediterranean.
Chickpeas also can be ground up and used as a flour called gram flour. Gram flour is used widely in India, and elsewhere to make falafel, or in Burma to make a variety of tofu, known as Burmese tofu.
If you are out of gram flour it is easy to make. Lightly toast chickpeas by heating them in a frying pan until they colour slightly, shaking the pan to prevent burning. Place them in a blender and blend until they reach the consistency of flour.
Chickpeas are used a lot in Italian cooking, being used to make pasta and bean dishes. They are added to marinated vegetables and in antipasto.
Nutrition
Chickpeas are great for vegetarians. A half a cup has about 17 grams of dietary fibre and 19 grams of protein. They are also considered more digestible than most other beans – ie less gas!
I found this on the net. I don’t understand the purines, but it sounds impressive. See what you think:
From a nutritional standpoint, chickpeas are an excellent source of protein, proteins that are devoid of purines, and are therefore ideally suited to those who suffer from gout. With respect to other legumes they have a higher fat content, which makes them more caloric; they are therefore not what one wants during a diet. However, they are quite rich in calcium, making them a good choice for combating osteoporosis, are also rich in iron, and are an excellent source of fiber. They’re instead sodium-poor, which makes them a good bet for those on reduced sodium diets.
Soaking and Cooking Chickpeas
You can buy chickpeas in a can, but they taste so much better if you cook them yourself. If you buy raw chickpeas, in fact any dried bean or pea, check the production date on the package, because if they are too old they simply won’t soften no matter how long they soak or cook.
Soak the chickpeas overnight or for 24 hours if you can.
Cook them for around 1 – 2 hours until nicely soft but not falling apart. I add a pinch of turmeric to the water as they cook. Don’t use salt – it toughens the skin. When cooked, they will have a rather creamy texture.
Because they take so long to cook, they are good to cook in the colder weather to warm the kitchen. But they can be eaten at all times of the year.
Chickpeas can be cooked and then frozen for later use in hummus or curries.
Serving Chickpeas
The easiest way to serve them is still hot, drizzled with a extra virgin olive oil and seasoned to taste with celtic sea salt and pepper. Serve with bread and a salad for a light lunch or as part of a larger meal.
Hummus is a must.
Use in salads and snacks as well as curries and bakes.
Chickpea curry is wonderful.
Chickpeas can also be fried for a wonderlicious snack.
In antipasto. In tomato paella. With beans. In pasta dishes.
But most of all …..
See the two posts that follow on from this one:
Spiritual Significance
In our local temple, we make garlands from soaked chickpeas for Siva. I am not sure why this is significant, and can’t find any information on it. Does anyone know the relationship between Siva and chickpeas?
I am going to guess that, as chickpeas come in two halves, cojoined to make 1 chickpea, they represent the Siva Shakti bond – Siva and Parvarti. Or even more, the Saivite monistic dualism – 2 yet 1. Anyway, would love to hear your experiences and thoughts.
See also
- Lucy from Nourish Me explains how to cook the best butter chickpeas in Why are they so damned hard to cook?
- A great post from My Husband Hates Veges on Spicy Roasted Chickpeas
Chickpea Series
- Baked Chickpeas
- Pearly Chickpea Hummus Salad
- Chickpea, Almond and Sesame Spread
- Chickpeas with Ginger Root Salad
- Chickpea Keep it Simple Salad
- Chana Chat with Chat Masala
- Cheat’s Hummus – Hummus made from a can of chickpeas or butter beans
- Chick Peas
- Meet Mr. Channa Chat Man, selling chickpea snacks on the beach at Kovalam.
Possibly Related Posts
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Other Posts:
15 responses so far ↓
nearlyvegan // December 3, 2007 at 6:29 am |
I love chick peas – what a wonderful post (and beautiful photos)!
I have never heard of Burmese Tofu – sounds amazing.
I have never tried fried chickpeas either – do you just dry fry cooked chickpeas? Or fry with a little oil or ghee?
Maninas // December 3, 2007 at 9:16 pm |
I adore chickpeas! Had a wonderful chickpea and sesame (Indian) dish this Saturday at a friend’s house !
I normally buy them tinned, my favourite being the East End brand. Their chickpeas are so delicious and soft that I sometimes eat them straight out of the can!
I tried using dried chickpeas and soaking them once – BUT – even after 2 – 3 days of soaking = a few hours of cooking they still remained incredibly hard!!! I used Natco brand for this, if that means anything to you. What do you think might have good (awfully) wrong?
VegeYum // December 3, 2007 at 9:39 pm |
Hi Maninas, If you buy raw chickpeas, in fact any dried bean or pea, check the production date on the package, because if they are too old they simply won’t soften no matter how long they soak or cook. Make sure they are not from the Vedic times
but are more recent. Then they are so delicious.
Dont soak them for longer than 12 hours, or in the fridge for 24, because they will begin to ferment – you can tell by the smell. They must still smell fresh, and give them a rinse under running water anyway before cooking them.
I use fresh chickpeas rather than canned most of the time because I prefer not to be putting all the preservative and salt that is in canned food into my body. Just a personal preference. I do use a few cans tho – coconut milk, tomatoes in winter and butter beans.
Nearlyvegan, you can fry the chickpeas in some ghee or oil. There are some recipes on the net – see http://www.foodtv.ca/recipes/recipedetails.aspx?dishid=5910 for example.
Thanks for visiting and ever so glad you liked the post.
Maninas // December 3, 2007 at 10:00 pm |
aha!
thanks very much for the info! That must have been it. I will give it another go, since I’m not keen on entering salt & preservatives int0 my body either…
alan // January 14, 2008 at 10:14 pm |
I find that if I run my tap water through a water softener it is much quicker to cook chick peas. If you live in a hard water area, this might be a problem. I’ve heard you can put baking soda in tap water to make it softer but I’m not sure how true that is.
alan // January 15, 2008 at 2:27 am |
I found this link http://missvickie.com/howto/beans/bakingsoda.htm which says adding baking soda is not a good idea unless you have particularly hard water, and then only a very small amount 1/8 teaspoon.
Maurice Read // April 1, 2008 at 1:24 pm |
The one time I cooked dried chick peas, it seemed like the skins should be removed, but the process of doing that was quite time consuming. Is there an easy way to do this or should I just ignore the skins next time?
Sometimes when you cook chickpeas, the skins will float off. No need to remove them, but often I find that if I drain the chickpeas first by pouring the cooking water into the sink from the saucepan (ie not straining them with a sieve) a lot of the skins will float away with the water.
I always use dried chickpeas but don’t ever have trouble with the skins – there are some there but it is not a big deal. Maybe check the dried chickpeas before buying to make sure they are good quality and not broken.
Good luck!
Lalita // July 29, 2008 at 5:41 pm |
I’m only veturing a guess here as to why Siva is given chickpea malas- it’s probably on Thursdays, or Jupiter days which is the Guru or DakshinaMurthi the teacher or Guru form of Siva. Chickpeas are the special grain to propitiate Jupiter.
I did not know about Jupiter and chickpeas – thank you so much.
brista // August 4, 2008 at 10:46 am |
Thank you for posting this! I’m making the chickpea cutlets from Vegamonicon (or however that’s spelled!) and the recipe calls for already-cooked chickpeas and so doesn’t tell me how to how the raw. But I found this and you have saved the day! Thank you!
I am so pleased that it was helpful, brista.
I will let you into a secret. I have soaked chickpeas for DAYS in the fridge, when I ran out of time to cook them. Long soaking makes them very buttery when cooked.
ahmed mohamed saad // September 13, 2008 at 2:10 am |
i need alot of paper about chickpea steap liqur
Good luck in finding it.
Ameet // December 7, 2008 at 4:23 am |
thank you for sharing a way to make gram flour. i will definitely try this!
Randy // December 28, 2008 at 9:33 am |
You asked about the relationship between Shiva and Chick Peas … I found at least one reference: “Parvati molded a little boy out of the chick pea flour. She then brought the boy to life, and named him Ganesh – her and Shiva’s new son.”
I found it at: http://www.taleblazing.com/2005/ganesh_charturthi.htm
There are many others.
Hope this helps.
Peace.
Annette // March 7, 2009 at 8:15 am |
I just switched from canned to dried chick peas…thanks for answering my question on how long to soak the buggers. My hummus-addicted family appreciates it!
Janet Ching // April 11, 2009 at 8:23 am |
I have bought the chick peas for some time and am about to make homemade hummus. Took me a long time to find tahini in Basel. Great info on the background of chick peas, I feel more confident to cook them now.
Angela // May 26, 2009 at 1:18 am |
I love love love your article. and I love chickpeas so thanks for helping me learn how to use them.