Leaning Vegetarian

Posts Tagged ‘chickpeas’

This is another recipe from the terrific Veganomicon.

The version Rachelle made a couple weeks ago is here on the Quinoa page – it has plain quinoa; today’s is made with red quinoa.

I was tickled to be able to go out and pick some of the coriander seed from our garden – there’s one advantage to being slow on the cilantro harvest; you get coriander seed.

After starting off by sauteeing the onion and garlic in a bit of olive oil, we added a couple tablespoons of tomato paste, cumin, coriander (crushed), salt, and pepper, and then the red quinoa. When that had cooked a bit we added the broth and chickpeas and set that to boil.

The recipe calls for 18 minutes to simmer/steam while the quinoa absorbs the liquid – I found it took much longer. Just keep an eye on it, stir it every few minutes, and wait until the texture is to your liking. It’ll gradually get fluffy.

Our meat-eaters have this as a side dish, and it’s our main course. I’m tempted to add a bit of chile to add a little bit of heat as well (yes, I am a hot food fan), but cooking the quinoa in the spices gives it a nice depth of flavor.

Hummus is a great snack or mayonnaise substitute, and I like it with all sorts of flavors. This lemon/garlic is a start, but do try roasted red peppers, or chiles, or dill and green herbs. It’s great in a sandwich, or on top of naan. Alton Brown uses peanut butter in his version instead of the tahini, and there’s a version with artichoke hearts at Pinch My Salt (great picture, too).

Soak your chickpeas overnight in a bowl with a generous amount of water – they’ll absorb a lot. Drain them and put them on the stove to boil until tender. This does take a while – I’ve tried grinding them when they’re soft enough to pierce with a fork, and I should have let them cook a bit longer.The shells will start to come off on their own – you can rub them when they’re cooled and remove them if you like; I don’t notice any ill effect or texture from a few left on.

For a couple of cups of dried chickpeas to start (the top photo shows chickpeas that have already soaked overnight), I used two big cloves of garlic, about three tablespoons of tahini, something like a quarter cup of lemon  juice, plus some water from the chickpeas.  I know, this is hopelessly vague – but hummus is ideal for adding the flavors that you want in just the proportions that you like. For a point of reference, the girls thought ‘Wow! Garlic!’, so you may want to start with one clove, chopped, and add more to your taste. I’m also fond of the citrus bite, so you may want to go lighter on the juice. I’ve seen recipes that add good olive oil as well, though I’d used only water.

Grind the chickpeas, chopped garlic, lemon juice, tahini, and a small splash of water in a food processor. (I suspect a blender works just fine, though I haven’t made it that way.) Check the texture, and add more water as needed – you can err just a dab on the thin side since it will thicken as it sits, too. I add about a teaspoon of salt at the end.  I’m really wanting to add some cumin and peppers at this point, but I’ll keep it plain for this batch and add an update with the pepper hummus. This is still a little grainy – it’s still good, but I’d like the texture to be smoother.

Serve on your favorite bread/cracker or dip vegetables in it (I’m having the leftovers with snow peas and yellow squash as I type), or use it as a spread on a sandwich.  I couldn’t resist a dusting of chile powder on here.