Chickpeas

My new favorite food item is the chickpea ( garbanzo bean). I recently had dinner at Nicole's ( a friend of mine) and got introduced to a delicious chickpea dish.   

Dinner at Nicole's

These beans are not only low in fat and high in fiber (1 cup has 12.5g of fiber! ) but also a great source of iron, protein, folate and manganese ( a key antioxidant found inside most cells).  Eating 2 cups of chickpeas will provide you with your daily recommended fiber intake.

Chickpeas are prepared like any legume: wash them first then soak them for some time ( 6 - 8 hours) or preferably overnight.  After rinsing, cook them on medium heat for about one hour to an hour-and-a-half.  The wonderful thing about chickpeas is that you can enjoy them in a variety of ways - hummus spread, salads, as a snack, added to stews or soups!

Inspired by Nicole's dinner, I bought some chickpeas and made some roasted red pepper hummus spread and some sauteed sweet curry chickpeas over brown rice ( see below).  Both were quite delish! 
Roasted red pepper hummus: I add about 2 cups of chickpeas in a food processor and pureed until it had a smooth texture. Then I added 2 pieces of roasted red peppers, 1 tablespoon of olive oil, a little salt and juice from 1/2 a lemon to the smooth chickpea mix and pureed and voila...hummus!

 

 

Roasted red pepper hummus spread over pita bread with some roasted chicken breast

Sweet curry chickpeas: I heated up some olive oil in a deep frying pan on medium-low heat for a few minutes, then added 1 tablespoon of minced garlic, 1 tablespoon of minced ginger, 1 large onion ( diced) and 2 green bell peppers ( diced), 1 pint of cherry tomatoes ( halved).  I let the ingredients simmer for a few minutes then added 2 tablespoon of curry powder and 4 packets (5g) of "raw sugar" ( you cam use any type of sugar).  After about 5 minutes, I tossed in the cooked chickpeas then let it simmer on low heat for about 15 - 20 minutes.  

Sauteed, sweet curry chickpeas with sweet brown rice