Chickpea virgin

chrisfreelander54

Whilst out shopping at my local Asian supermarket I spotted some dried chickpeas at a good price, so me being one who loves to try new foods I bunged some in the shopping basket.

The problem is I'm unsure as what to do with them, I know you soak them over night, but I was wondering is it possible to bung them in the slow cooker along with other ingredients, and do I need to wash them first?

Also is the there any recipes that use chickpeas along with your average everyday store cupboard ingredients?

Look forward to your input.
Chris

Butterfly_Brain

Personally I can't stand them but there are recies here
http://www.channel4.com/4food/recipes/popular-ingredients/chickpeas

Steve059

This is based on tinned chickpeas, and the drained weight of a 400g tin is usually 240g.

CHICKPEA CURRY

Serves 2

INGREDIENTS

2 cloves of garlic
1 onion
2 tablespoons of oil
400g tin of chickpeas
200g (½ a 400g tin) of chopped tomatoes
½ a teaspoon of chilli powder
1 tablespoon of garam masala
½ a teaspoon of ground turmeric
125ml of water

METHOD

Peel the garlic and chop it into tiny pieces. Peel the onion and chop it into tiny pieces.

Put the oil into a saucepan on a moderate heat. Add the garlic and onion. Fry for 3 minutes until they are golden.

Open the tin of chickpeas. Drain off the water. Add the chickpeas.

Add the tomatoes, chilli powder, garam masala, turmeric and water. Stir thoroughly.

Bring to the boil, then turn down the heat until it is just boiling. Put the lid on the pan. Cook for another 10 minutes.

ADDITIONS & ALTERNATIVES

Add a 2cm (1 inch) piece of fresh ginger at the same time as the garlic and onion.

The quantity of chilli powder above makes for a medium curry. For a hot one, increase this to 1 teaspoon. For a mild one, decrease this to ¼ of a teaspoon.

kafkathecat

Chickpeas can take a long time to cook. They might work in a slow cooker but you would have to boil them for 10 minutes first.

You can use them to make hummus, falafel, curry - chickpea and spinach, chickpea and veg, chickpea and lentil, or put them in a tagine with some lamb, even a general meat or veg stew would benefit from a few. I love chickpeas!

superrhinos

Jack Monroe's Chickpea and peach curry is very tasty. Link to recipe here:-

http://www.theguardian.com/lifeandstyle/2013/jul/20/10-pound-a-week-recipes

I also like Frugal Queen's Chickpea and Chilli stirfry. Link to recipe here:-

http://www.frugalqueen.co.uk/2013/08/shopping-cooking-more-cooking-and.html

cats_ahoy

They should be perfectly fine to do in the slow cooker, if you google slow cooker chick peas or something similar you should find plenty of sites that give good methods for slow cooking chickpeas.

Houmous would be a good dish to make, as it apparently tastes sooooo much better with dried chickpeas rather than tinned, hopefully going to try and make some soon myself with my slow cooker for cooking the chickpeas!

aaroncaz

Try this soup:

http://www.cookincanuck.com/2009/05/peasant-pasta-chickpea-soup/

It's so nice and dead easy to make.

[Deleted User]

Chickpeas are great cooked in a pressure cooker - they should be soaked for minimum 12 hours - and cooked in new water on high pressure for 30 minutes. If cooking in a slow cooker, don't forget to soak then boil for 10 minutes first then into the slow cooker.

Great for making curries, bean salads, houmus

boredjellybean

you can make falafel with them or try looking for Spanish recipes as they often have chick peas, but yeah hummus would be my fav

Beenie

I make hummus every week. It's a real moneysaver as OH takes it to work instead of buying sandwiches (which are expensive and poor quality mostly)

poorly_scammo

Dried chickpeas taste great.

Authorities vary on the length of soaking and cooking. Here's what I do: soak for 24hrs in cold water then drain, rinse and cook in plain water, NO SALT (it could toughen them) for about an hour then I use them as one would use tinned chickpeas. The dried ones hold their shape and have good texture I find and taste nuttier somehow than tinned.