From chewy spiced chickpeas in a rice bowl with veggies or a crunchy snack, canned chickpeas are versatile and affordable.
The recipe in this post is designed to show how you can get very different results using the same ingredient. Changing the cook time is the way to control the texture of the chickpea – 20 minutes results in a just slight color soft texture- to 50 minutes to get a dehydrated crunchy texture. For a sandwich or rice bowl I like the texture to be in the middle.
For authentic recipe techniques and spice blends I look to food bloggers sharing their wisdom. Richa, a food blogger from Bangalore India, shares well tested recipes her family loves. When roasting chickpeas she suggests adding spices in the last 10 minutes to develop a good crunch with a longer cook time while avoiding burning spices and losing flavor. You can see her recipe here:
. https://myfoodstory.com/crunchy-roasted-indian-masala-chickpeas-recipe/
Recipe: Simple Roasted Chickpeas – Choose your texture based on cook time.
Ingredients:
1 can chickpeas, 1 TBS Olive Oil, Salt and Pepper, curry powder to taste (curry powder may be hot or mild in your recipe kit)
- Preheat oven to 400F.
- Rinse and dry chickpeas. They roast best if they have most of the liquid dried off.
- Mix chickpeas with 1 TBS oil and salt and pepper.
- Spread on a sheet pan or in a glass dish.
- Think about what texture you would like to achieve. If you plan to cook them for 35 minutes or less add the curry powder to the chickpeas and toss to coat. Put in the oven and set a timer. Give chickpeas a stir partway through. If you plan to cook them for longer than 35 minutes, set aside curry powder and 2 additional tsp olive oil. Cook chickpeas for 35 minutes stirring partway through. At 35 minutes, pull chickpeas from the oven, carefully add the oil and and curry powder. Return to the oven and cook till desired crunchiness is achieved an additional 10-15 minutes. Watch for them starting to smoke/get done faster, ovens vary.
Other suggested variations. If making a chewy chickpea, add sliced peppers and roast with the chickpeas. Serve with rice or on a sandwich : )
