Recipe: Chickpea Munchies

CHICKPEA MUNCHIES
Source: The Bean Harvest Cookbook by Ashley Miller
Makes 2 1/2 cups

What food these morsels be. They vary from crunchy inside and out to crunchy on the outside and soft on the inside. They're great for appetizers with drinks and also make tasty, nutritious snacks.

1 cup dried chickpeas (2 1/2 cups cooked)
1 tablespoon olive oil
1 clove garlic, minced
2 teaspoons curry powder
1/2 to 3/4 teaspoon salt
freshly ground black pepper, to taste

Sort through, rinse, soak*, and cook the chickpeas by your preferred method. Drain and place on paper towels to dry.

Preheat the oven to 400 degrees F.

In large frying pan, hear the oil over medium-low heat. When hot, add the garlic and curry powder. Saute, stirring occasionally, until the garlic just begins to turn golden.

Add the chickpeas and stir to coat with the garlic and curry powder. Add the salt and pepper. Stir to combine and turn out the chickpeas into a large, shallow baking pan.

Bake 25-35 minutes, or until crunchy. Serve warm.

Note: You can freeze cooked Chickpea Muuchies and then reheat them at 400 degrees F for 15-20 minutes,

*SOAKING BEANS
Soaking which causes dried legumes to absorb water and double or triple in size, is a simple step. There are several ways this can be done.

Quick soaking
This method takes about an hour. As a rule of thumb, for I cup of beans, use 4 cups of water. For each additional cup of beans, add 3 cups of water. Put the water and the sorted and rinsed beans in a large pot. Bring to a boil and cook for 2 minutes. Remove from the hear, cover, and let stand for 1 hour

Traditional soaking
Traditional soaking is usually thought of as an overnight process. In reality, it appears that there is little advantage in soaking beans for more than 4 hours. That means you can put the beans in to soak in the morning, and they'll he ready to cook in the afternoon.

For traditional soaking, use a large pot or bowl and 4 cups of water (or the first cup of beans, with 3 cups of water for each additional cup of beans. Place the beans in the pot or howl and add the water. Let the beans soak for at least 4 hours. If the beans will he soaking longer than 6 hours in a very warm room, place the bowl or pot in the refrigerator.

In all soaking methods, the soaking water should he thrown out.