Salty, crunchy, garlicky roasted chickpeas

[Robin Garr]

Jenise, with her wok-roasted edamame, must have been riding the same cosmic winds as Mary today, who took it into her head to drain, rinse and air-dry a can of chickpeas, then toss them with olive oil, salt and lots of minced garlic, roast 30 minutes at 425F, shaking the pan now and then so they don't stick, and ... well, we used them as salad crunchies, but I can see a lot of uses for these addictive little delights, not least eating them out of hand like peanuts.

sm-roasted-chickpeas.jpg

Isn't that a famous tapas? Anyway, sounds like something worth trying myself.

[Robin Garr]

Isn't that a famous tapas? Anyway, sounds like something worth trying myself.

Jeff, it's entirely possible, although I can't recall encountering these crunchy little goodies at a tapas restaurant. (Now I'm crying because De La Torre's, our local tapas progenitor and shrine, closed last year when the owners retired. )

There's a restaurant around the corner from our house that serves bowls of these as appetizers. Once you start on them, it is impossible to stop before the bowl is empty.

When I was growing up in the Italian enclave of South Brooklyn, a summer-only outdoor lemon ice/candy store always stocked a large jar full of dried, toasted cecci. Used to buy them by the bag, and eat them as is or used in salads, etc..

Thanks Robin (and Mary) for sharing that, Had some dried chick peas that needed using up so cooked them up
and made a batch. Very yummy indeed.

I remember that I came THAT close to making a batch of crunchy roasted chick peas but it was because I had the spice that was recommended in the recipe I stumbled across. And I've been trying to remember. Googling around I found one recipe that used garam masala (I think that was it) and another recipe that used ras al hanout. Plus sweet-ish recipes with cinnamon, and hot recipes with chili powder, and other spice combinations as well.

I did buy a bag of them. I think it was at the Mexican market, and they were cooked with chili powder. I wish I could remember the name in Spanish, the adjective translated as something like "chili peppered" and it was an adjective I have heard applied to other dishes. Hmm. Anyway, not very good. Very dried out, too much crunch, not enough flavor.

I also have bought crunchy snacks at the Chinese and Korean markets as well as Patel Cash and Carry -- but this was from the Mercado.

[Jenise]

I love garbanzo beans done this way--picked up the technique from Seattle chef Jerry Traunfeld. I am also currently in love with them straight out of the can--S&W brand, that is. A favorite lunch salad is garbanzos mixed with halved cherry tomatoes, oil, vinegar and fresh mint for a tabouli-ish flavor profile.

Here's another interesting garbanzo bean salad the crispy ones would be terrific in:



Ingredients For Vegetables:
1 1/2 cups sliced carrots, in coin shapes
1 medium head of cauliflower, cut into small florets
1/4 cup olive oil
1 tablespoon curry powder
1 teaspoon salt
1/4 teaspoon black pepper
One 15-ounce can chickpeas (garbanzo beans)
4 heaping cups of arugula

For Dressing:
2 tablespoons olive oil
1 tablespoon honey
1 1/2 tablespoons fresh lemon juice
1/4 teaspoon salt


Directions

Preheat oven to 400 degrees F. Combine cauliflower and carrots in a large bowl. In separate small bowl, whisk together olive oil, curry powder, salt and pepper. Pour onto cauliflower and carrots, stirring to coat. Spread these vegetables onto two large baking sheets. Roast for 30 minutes, stirring once, until vegetables are tender and browned. Remove from oven and let cool slightly. In a medium bowl, combine chickpeas and arugula. In another bowl, whisk together dressing ingredients and pour onto chickpeas and arugula, stirring to coat. Empty onto a serving platter, then top with roasted vegetables. Serve at room temperature. Leftovers will keep for two days in refrigerator.

Jenise -- my wife Louise has long been famous for her hummus, and one of her secrets was always to use the dried garbanzos.

The other day I watched America's Test Kitchen and they had a bean tasting. Chris Kimball (?) the main guy had said that he also had the same rule, use dried beans, but apparently the technology of canning has improved to the point that in general the canned beans today are as good or better than the ones you make at home from dried beans. And it was canned beans that Chris picked from a blind taste test.

The other thing I learned about canned garbanzos specifically -- since I learned the difference between hummus with and without the skins, I have also noticed that most local mid-east restaurants serve the skin-free version. At first I was amazed because of the amount of time it takes to pick off all of the skins. But I have learned that the restaurants buy skin-free garbanzos in cans. As far as I know -- these aren't at the stores I shop at and may not be retail consumer items.

The skinless hummus has a texture like air, it is just creamy and delicious. Once you know the difference the hummus with skins tastes granular, almost like sandy, and crude in comparison. Of course the flavors are about the same but texture is important.

[Jenise]

The dried are definitely the best--especially if you have a pressure cooker. They cook in only 10-20 minutes. But if canned--S&W all the way. Bought an organic brand the other day that were horrible--not just tasteless, but all the peas were kind of extra large and hard and rustically textured.

But Frank, I had no idea re the skins. Wouldn't have ever thought of removing the skins--must try!

Interesting comment about the airiness coming from the lack of skins. Skins have always been an 'issue' for me when cooking with dried garbanzos, as there is an aesthetic appeal to removing skins but I usually cook a big potful (for several meals) and there is no way I'm going to peel each one.

I have also remarked on the airiness of some packaged hummus, but never connected it to the skins. My favorite was like whipped air, so I figured they either had a different kind of blender/whipper than what I have at home, or were using a lower percentage of beans relative to the other ingredients.

I mentioned that I bought a bag of crunchy garbanzos flavored with chili, and that the Spanish word they used on the label intrigued me but I couldn't remember it. Today I remembered.

https://www.walmart.com.mx/super/images/products/img_large/0750179163805L.jpg

Garbanzos enchilados.

Enchilada is a word everyone knows but I had never "taken it apart" to think what it meant.

There is chili inside, that's the etymology.

By the way I did the parallel experiment with the chickpeas… I peeled a bunch of chickpeas, maybe from a can, don't remember, and made a parallel batch with Louise's unpeeled, and got that very clear and obvious textural difference. We took both to a party and the people were impressed with the difference, and that's when I started noticing the texture more at restaurants.

I think it's an experiment worth doing -- the skins do come off easily, and we do the same thing with almonds. We buy almonds with skins and blanche and peel before roasting and salting. Garbanzos are obviously easier to peel than almonds.

I mentioned that I bought a bag of crunchy garbanzos flavored with chili, and that the Spanish word they used on the label intrigued me but I couldn't remember it. Today I remembered.

https://www.walmart.com.mx/super/images/products/img_large/0750179163805L.jpg

Garbanzos enchilados.

Enchilada is a word everyone knows but I had never "taken it apart" to think what it meant.

There is chili inside, that's the etymology.

That's a new one on me as well, Frank, although it makes perfect sense when you think about it.

We're having a couple of friends over for cocktails before heading out to a restaurant for supper, so I made a couple of cans of these to snack on with our drinks. I used ras el hanout along with salt on them and they came out very nicely. Any that we leave will be scarfed up by my daughter as soon as we leave.

So, we are making a nice Nowruz meal and taking it down to Maryland for my brother in law's family, we'll be driving down on Friday and having the dinner on Saturday. So Louise wanted to make a good batch of hummus as part of the feast. She soaked and boiled a whole bag of chick peas. I peeled 2+ cups of the peas to make an "airy" hummus and then I was supposed to deal with the rest.

I tried out the concept of making spicy crunchy garbanzos -- put a cup of peas on a cookie sheet, salted and sprinkled liberally with good chili powder, and baked in a 385 degree oven for half an hour. They were really good. So I took another cup of peas and did the same except that I used ras el hanout instead of chili powder. Also good. But I had maybe 2 cups left. I really liked the "garbanzos enchiladas" better than the ras el hanout so I did another cookie sheet with those.

They are a great snack, spicy crunchy and delicious. And when my son arrived, even though he is a big fan of ras el hanout (he puts it on sweet potato for breakfast) he liked the chili beans better just like I did.

Great idea!