Wait. Right out of the can?!
While I have to admit that I sometimes take the lazy way out and eat canned chick peas, there is NOTHING to match the flavor of a chick pea that you have prepared yourself. Canned beans are inexpensive to begin with, but dried beans are laughably cheap and super easy to prepare.
I started with a one-pound bag of dried chick peas from my mother's natural food store back in NY:
Since preparing beans on the stove top takes a while, I figured I might as well do the whole bag.
Rinse them and check for debris (dried beans and grains can have pebbles, sticks, and other foreign matter mixed in). Pour into a bowl with water to cover by 2-3 inches.
Leave them for 4-6 hours, or overnight.
They get humungous! these guys were even poking up out of the water.
Drain, then in a large pot, boil chick peas with enough water to cover 1-2 inches. Once boiling, add a piece of kombu (optional, but it reduces bloating and gas for you bean-dreading types) and reduce heat to low. Simmer for 2 hours, or until chick peas are tender. Drain to use right away, or store the chick peas in the fridge in their cooking juices for up to 7-10 days.
Look how much bigger they get!
I didn't want to mask their deliciousness with a recipe, so I prepared the chick peas my faaaaaaavorite way: sprinkled with olive oil and LOTS OF SALT. I ate them right away for dinner.
I had the same thing for lunch today. (don't worry, I had salad on the side, I'm not entirely fixated on the chick peas...)
Fun fact: Roman politician/philosopher Cicero's name comes from the Latin name for chick peas (cicer arietinum)!
6 comments:
I love chick peas "straight up" from the can :o). I'm intrigued to try making the dried ones now!
Oh, and my grandfather (a former Latin professor) was ALWAYS reading Cicero... he would've loved that you mentioned Cicero in your blog ;o)
Hey Sarah!
I found you through Sarah D's livejournal. The food looks so good and I'm going to try out your no-mato sauce because I can't eat tomatos and it looks really good!
Ginny
I know I should use dried beans, they're so much cheaper! Do you suppose you could freeze them once they're cooked?
Chick peas are my friends too. I put them in anything I can think of. They are one of life's few miracles, I think.
I just hate waiting for them to simmer. They take a long, long, long time. I guess they're good to keep on the stove if you have other stuff to do in the meantime.
chickpeas are totally addictive.
Try them with a bit of nutritional yeast and some salt! YUM!
I love chickpeas too!!
Here in Malta you can even buy them fresh. They're really great and are totally inexpensive!!
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