An awful lot of chickpeas!

Interesting fact of the day!

Falafel originates from Polynesia, where it was tradition to eat it out of coconut shells. These shells would be lined up at wedding ceremonies, and the bride and groom would take the first two, the rest being taken in turn by the villagers, working from the Chief downwards in order of seniority.

The more falafel shells there were at the wedding, the more luck would be bestowed on the bride and groom.

Once the ceremony was over, the newlyweds would race down to the beach to see how lucky they would be. If there were more than twenty falafel shells, the bride would sing the traditional good luck song.......










"I've got a falafelly bunch of coconuts, here they are all standing in a row....etc etc"

You made that up, Ellpus.

Any folk tales on the origins of hummus? :wink:

I just went down to the barn to collect eggs and while I was there I watched a chick pee. Cute little thing, peeing in the middle of the barn, and then scampering back to the safety of its mother.

Thanks for telling us about it, Gus.

I think you should make a chick pea windmill. After you eat the rest of the peas, you should be able to generate some electricity.

Very useful idea, cjhsa! But I was following a method of cooking the little devils which promised to "remove the unwelcome threat of flatulence". I'll let you know if it worked. :wink:

Let's just say that we're all glad that our computers don't have smellyvision.

Have any chickpeas left, MsOlga?

I don't usually use/eat chickpeas excpet for hummos. But, I needed to make the kids lunch today and their cubbards were rather bare. There wre chickpeas and canned tomatoes. I remembered making indian curries with tomatoes and chickpeas, but I knew the kids wouldn't like that somuch. I made a pasta dish instead. Just a little garlic sauteed in olive oil, let chickpeas and tomatoes (about a 2 to 1 ratio) simmer for a while with a little added water and then mashed both beans and tomatoes a little. It made a nice, if a little boring, pasta sauce.

Well yes, as a matter of fact I do, k!
I made the burgers (Recipe above. Very nice, actually. ) but still had heaps left over. I took the easy way out & froze the remains. I guess this is first stop to the inevitable compost bin destination? A girl can only consume so many chickpeas in a short space of time, I'm afraid.


BTW, are frozen chickpeas vaguely edible? Does anyone know? Do they turn to tasteless mush, or what?

A chickpea salad with virgin olive oil red onion and finely chopped arugula. Lemon salt and pepper. YUMMY

I does sound good, Algis! And maybe a wee bit of garlic, too?
Hmmmm, I wonder if I could get away with frozen chickpeas for this one? Probably not.

They'll freeze OK. Best to have them in a tomato-based curry tho, Channa Dahl is a big favourite of mine. I find them a little bland for salads and there is a limit to the amount of hommous anyone can eat.

They could be canned if you have a surplus....

I thought I'd soak & cook a few, Mr S, as I realized I hadn't eaten them for a very long time & had a desire to do the vego thing again. Then, as there seemed to be not so many left in the jar, I thought: What the heck, I'll do the lot! I ended up with a huge quantity as a result!

I love Channa Dahl, too & endless varieties of Indian/Middle Eastern pulse/lentil dishes I used to cook when I was living with Mr Vegetarian. (I stopped after Mr V & I parted ways. A sort of a protest, I guess. Silly.) Suddenly it seems a good idea to eat more of this type of food again! I must invest in some fresh spices & flavourings, though. And I'm on the look-out for completely new recipes.

Call 'em GARBONZO BEANS - that should dampen your enthusiasm for them!!


Here's Jamie 'Can-we-cook-it? Yes-we-can!' Oliver with some thoughts....




Summer Chickpea Salad
Serves 4

1 small red onion, peeled
1-2 fresh red chillies, deseeded
2 handfuls of ripe red or yellow tomatoes
2 lemons
extra virgin olive oil
sea salt and freshly ground black pepper
1 x 410g jar or tin of chickpeas, drained, or around 4 large handfuls of soaked and cooked chickpeas
a handful of fresh mint, chopped
a handful of fresh green or purple basil, finely ripped
200g/7oz feta cheese

Chickpeas are pretty under-used in this country, to be honest. In places like Morocco, Italy and Spain they are prized like our Jersey new potato. Still, we have a lot more choice now than we used to have. If you go to a Spanish deli or specialist counter, you will generally be able to find jars of cooked chickpeas in water and these are the ones you want to make this salad really good. They should look a little plumper than tinned chickpeas but, of course, both tinned ones or dried ones can be used successfully. This salad is a great one for making up as you go along; you can use different spices sun-dried tomatoes and spicy chorizo sausages, for instance.

Method
First of all, finely slice your red onion. Once that is done, finely slice your chillies then roughly chop your tomatoes, mixing them in with the onion and chillies. Scrape all of this, and the juice, into a bowl and dress with the juice of 1 and-a-half lemons and about 3 times as much good extra virgin olive oil. Season to taste.

Heat the chickpeas in a pan, then add 90 per cent of them to the bowl. Mush up the remaining chickpeas and add these as well, they will give a nice creamy consistency. Allow to marinate for a little while and serve at room temperature.

Just as you are ready to serve, give the salad a final dress with the fresh mint and basil. Taste one last time for seasoning, you may want to add the juice from your remaining lemon half at this point. Place on a nice serving dish and crumble over the feta cheese.

And as Jamie sez...


'I could get all lovely-jubley with a Melbourne lass!!'

Looks like he's had an overdose of garbanzos! Chunk-wunky Jamie!

Hey, that's not a bad recipe, Mr S! Thanks!

Next, I'm gonna get stuck back into black-eyed peas. My favourites!

I like to curry my chickpeas with tofu. You know, sautee some onions and cumin and corrainder, maybe throw in some green pepper, add your cubed tofu.

Goes great in a pita with a bit of plain yogurt on top.

And thanks for the kickass recipes everybody! I frickin' love chickpeas.


Oops, addendum to above post: I forgot the diced tomatoes!

Nice 'n' easy, Gargamel!
Even better with the chopped tomatoes!