Today, we’re excited to kick off a new food series: one ingredient, three ways. And we’re starting with a good one, y’all: the mighty chickpea. It’s flexible, it’s filling, and it’s almost always knocking around the back of the cabinet, waiting to be transformed into a killer stew or open-faced sandwich or a show-stopping party dip. So, we asked three foodie friends for their favorite ways to use them…
Hetty McKinnon, cookbook author and writer of To Vegetables, With Love
“Chickpea dinners are my weeknight go-to — one of the easiest and most economical ways to get dinner on the table, quickly! I never use dried chickpeas during the week — canned ones do the job nicely. I try to pair them with a fresh vegetable, for crunch, and a bold dressing, to keep the flavor interesting. I often go for this chili-crisp chickpea salad, which has heat from the chili crisp (not often paired with chickpeas, which is part of why I love it here!) and acidity from vinegar. The whole thing is rounded out by fresh herbs (you can use mint, parsley, or both!). I like to eat this dish alongside flatbread; it travels well too, making it perfect for potlucks, picnics, etc.”
Chili Crisp Chickpea Salad
Serves 4
1/2 small red onion, diced
1 garlic clove, grated
1 tbsp black or rice vinegar
1 tbsp sesame oil
2 tbsp chili crisp, or more to taste
2 Persian/Lebanese cucumbers (about 250g), trimmed, quartered lengthwise, and sliced
Handful chopped mint
Handful chopped parsley
2 cans chickpeas, drained (about 500g, drained weight)
Salt and pepper
In a large bowl, add the red onion, garlic, vinegar, sesame oil and chili crisp. Toss to combine.
Next, add the cucumber, chickpeas, mint and/or parsley, and toss to combine. Season with salt and pepper, and serve.
Greta Caruso & Fanny Singer, co-writers of The Green Spoon
“We are both lifelong, irrepressible fans of the humble chickpea, and adore it in all its forms: chana masala, hummus, socca — you name it. But if we had to choose our very favorite chickpea meal, it would be Perfect Chickpeas — one of our most popular all-star recipes, and with good reason: This dish offers velvety chickpeas in an umami, garlicky, Parmesan-infused broth. The recipe is straightforward and simple, and it comes out beautifully every time.
“We make these chickpeas for both everyday meals and special occasions (they’re a hit with all ages), or batch-cook them to stock the freezer with last-minute dinners. Serve them with rice for a satisfying two-ingredient meal, stuff ’em into tortillas with cheese and guacamole for easy veggie tacos, or ladle them over pasta for a quick riff on pasta e fagioli. Whatever you do, just make it a big batch. You won’t regret it.”
1 pound dried chickpeas
1 head garlic (or 10 cloves), minced
1 rind of a wedge of Parmesan or pecorino cheese*
2 bay leaves
Olive oil
Salt
Optional:
1 pinch smoked chili flakes
1 pinch fennel seeds
1 strip dried kombu seaweed
*Note: Don’t skimp on the Parmesan rind! It’s the umami-delivering star of this recipe, and it must be included. After making this for the first time, you’ll start religiously saving rinds in the freezer, but until you do, you can just slice the rind off the Parm wedge in your fridge.
Soak chickpeas overnight or for a minimum of eight hours. (Some say this isn’t necessary, but we’re in the “don’t fix what ain’t broke” camp. Soaking has always worked for us, so we’re going to keep doing it.) You can soak them with a tiny bit of baking soda (no more than 1/8 of a tsp per pound), to help speed up cooking time later.
When you’re ready to cook, strain the chickpeas in a colander and give them a quick rinse with cold water. Add 1/4 cup of olive oil to the bottom of a heavy bottomed stock pot. Turn the heat to low, and add the garlic (and chili flakes, if using). When the garlic starts to sizzle gently and become fragrant (about 4-6 minutes), add the chickpeas and cover them with fresh water by two inches. Turn the heat to high, and add the cheese rind and bay leaves (as well as fennel seeds and kombu, if using).
When the water is at a roiling boil, turn the heat back down to low and cover the pot. Now you can walk away for a while. The chickpeas will take 1-2 hours to cook (older beans will need more time than fresher ones). Check them for the first time after 30 minutes — this will give you a good idea of how long they’ll take to cook. They may still be totally hard or they might have a bit of give already. Check the pot every 20 minutes or so. When the beans are about 2/3 cooked — softened, but still kinda crunchy — add 2 tablespoons of salt and keep cooking (if cooking for babies, either reduce or omit the salt — adult servings can be seasoned later).
You’ll know your chickpeas are done when they become the texture of velvet with a very gentle bite. It’s easy to lose patience when something’s been cooking for a while, but our rule of thumb with chickpeas is to give them an extra 15 to 20 minutes, even when we think they’re done. Undercooked beans are a texture bummer, but they’re also hard to digest, which is a whole different kind of chaos.
When the beans are done done, turn off the burner and let them cool for a bit. Resist the urge to taste and salt until the chickpeas have gone from super-hot to warm. (The danger of over-salting is VERY HIGH when something’s fresh off the burner, because you can’t properly taste for salt levels.) When they’ve cooled to a pleasantly warm temperature, salt to taste, adding anywhere from 1 to 3 more tablespoons.
Keep leftovers in an airtight container, submerged in their cooking liquid. They’ll keep like this for a week in the fridge, or six months in the freezer.
Jenny Rosenstrach, writer of Dinner: A Love Story
“Do you know that stunning baby book by Margaret Wise Brown — The Important Book — where she lists the characteristics of common objects before landing on their most important attribute? [A spoon] is like a little shovel you hold in your hand. It isn’t flat; it isn’t hollow, but the important thing about a spoon is that you eat with it. Well, if Margaret Wise Brown wrote about this dinner, she’d say something like: This meal is vegetarian. It’s super flavorful. It takes only one pot. But the important thing about this meal is that it’s delicious. What I’ll say is this is a favorite chickpea meal of friends and family of all ages.”
Curried Chickpeas with Tomatoes and Greens
Serves 4
2 tbsp olive oil
1/2 onion, chopped (about 1/3 cup)
1 clove garlic, minced
1 tsp fresh ginger, minced
kosher salt and freshly ground pepper, to taste
shake of red pepper flakes to taste
3 tbsp curry powder (your favorite kind)
1 tsp smoked paprika
2 14-oz cans chickpeas, drained and dried as much as possible
1 14-oz can diced tomatoes
1 cup vegetable broth, plus up to another 1/2 cup as needed
4-5 lacinato/Tuscan kale leaves, de-stemmed and chopped*
1/4 cup coconut milk
*Note: feel free to use a cup of thawed frozen spinach, or peas!
Optional:
Cilantro and lime wedges for garnish
In a large skillet (like the one shown) set over medium-low heat, add olive oil, onions, garlic, ginger, pepper flakes, salt and pepper, and cook until slightly softened (about 4-5 minutes). Turn heat to medium, add curry powder, smoked paprika, and cook, allowing the spices to toast a bit.
Add chickpeas, stirring to cover with curry powder. Cook about 5 minutes, until they look like they’re crisping slightly. Now, give them a taste. If you think they need more seasoning, adjust accordingly.
Stir in tomatoes and half the broth, and let simmer on the stovetop for another 10 minutes or so, until everything is warmed through. (If it looks too gloppy, add more vegetable broth to loosen.) Add kale and cook until wilted. Stir in coconut milk.
Serve on its own, or with rice, topped with cilantro and a squeeze of lime.
Huge thanks to our friends, Hetty, Greta, Fanny and Jenny! Do you have a favorite way to use chickpeas? Any other staples you’d like to see in this series?
P.S. Craving more chickpeas? Here are crispy chickpeas with caesar dressing and the iconic smashed chickpea sandwich from Smitten Kitchen.
(Chili-crisp salad photo by Hetty McKinnon. Perfect chickpeas photo by Greta Caruso. Curried chickpeas photo by Jenny Rosenstrach.)
