Spiced Chickpeas

These simple spiced chickpeas are perfect additions to a salad filled with your favorite greens.  We tend to want to take salads to work for a healthy lunch option, but there is a standard dismay when the salad is less than exciting.  It is just the worst feeling to be at work, start getting hungry at lunchtime (or for me at 10:30am most days) and then remember that you have a sad boring salad in the refrigerator. Not with these easy spiced chickpea recipe!

This is the perfect protein rich vegetarian salad addition that will turn a weekday salad from glum to glam. We made a batch of these this weekend and used them throughout the week as the protein star for our weekday lunches.

You can make this recipe with either dried or canned chickpeas, and it works great either way.  The recipe below uses canned chickpeas. If you prefer cooking from dried, soak ½ lb of dried chickpeas overnight in enough cold water to cover by 2-3 inches, and a tablespoon of kosher salt.  When ready to cook, drain the chickpeas, place them in a large saucepan filled with salted water, and simmer until tender, about 1 hour.  You can add a bay leaf to the cooking water if you are feeling fancy. Drain the chickpeas and proceed with the recipe below.  Check out this article for more detailed and science based info on cooking dried beans.

 

Spiced Chickpeas

Inspired by Jerusalem, by Yotam Ottolenghi and Sami Tamimi

Serves 4-5

• ½ tsp cardamom
• 1 tsp cumin
• 1 ½ tsp allspice
• ½ tsp aleppo pepper or red pepper flakes to taste
• ½ tsp salt
• 4 cups of cooked chickpeas (from two 14 oz cans or from ½ lb dried)
• 2-3 Tbsp olive oil

Combine spices with salt.  Toss chickpeas in spice mixture.  Heat olive oil in a skillet over medium heat.  Add chickpeas, lightly frying, stirring occasionally.  Remove from heat and serve warm or at room temperature with a yogurt dressing.  A combination of yogurt, sumac, salt, and pepper makes a perfect dressing to highlight the spice mixture of these chickpeas.