The Lemon Fool

I thought I knew chickpeas.

But recently I encountered something different: black chickpeas. Wanted them as an ingredient for a tasty broth, and the black ones were all I could find in a hurry. So I bought them despite the rather steep price.

Having much enjoyed the broth, they were worth every penny! They brought much more than just the nutrition to the meal, and made a real feature.

It seems there's more to chickpeas than I ever knew. What should I aim to try next?

Well given the colour thing, what about black peas?

Usually seen for sale about bonfire night, but hard to find at other times.

Re "all I could find in a hurry", there seems to be a shortage of legumes at the moment. I've been trying to get some dried haricot beans for about a month. Last time I looked the shelf was bare of all dried beans.
I do have a bag of black eye beans, but they give a more earthy flavor to cassoulet than haricot or cannelloni.

UncleEbenezer wrote:
It seems there's more to chickpeas than I ever knew. What should I aim to try next?

Do you use dried chickpeas or canned? Have you ever had chickpeas in a jar...the best!

John

There's also black tahini made from black sesame seeds.

redsturgeon wrote:

UncleEbenezer wrote:
It seems there's more to chickpeas than I ever knew. What should I aim to try next?

Do you use dried chickpeas or canned? Have you ever had chickpeas in a jar...the best!

John

Usually dry. Occasionally (including this time) tinned. Can't say I can bring to mind ever encountering them in a jar, unless as an ingredient in some expensive concoction.

Urbandreamer wrote:Re "all I could find in a hurry", there seems to be a shortage of legumes at the moment. I've been trying to get some dried haricot beans for about a month. Last time I looked the shelf was bare of all dried beans.

Do you not have a wholefood shop for that kind of thing?

One reason for my phrasing there is that I was away from home and shopping in a supermarket.

When Lidl have their Spanish week they usually have Sol&Mar jars of chickpeas. I bought a jar at 69p, 400g drained weight, last time around. They also stock a variety of different tinned pulses including chickpeas!

Tricia

I usually get my dried beans and lentils from an Indian greengrocers.

UncleEbenezer wrote:

Urbandreamer wrote:Re "all I could find in a hurry", there seems to be a shortage of legumes at the moment. I've been trying to get some dried haricot beans for about a month. Last time I looked the shelf was bare of all dried beans.

Do you not have a wholefood shop for that kind of thing?

One reason for my phrasing there is that I was away from home and shopping in a supermarket.

My local Morrisons use to have a good selection of dried beans, but as I say not at the moment. The closest thing to a wholefood shop nearby is a very small Hollend & Barrett, I have bought tahini and almond flour there, but I don't recall them stocking beans.

Tinned beans are more widely available. Indeed that supermarket has both dark and blond tinned chickpeas. I tend though to buy my tinned beans from Aldi as their ones are not tinned in salt water.

I don't know if it's specific to my local Morrisons, but produce grouping is very strange. Two different sections for dried beans. The same for spices. Likewise Lemon and Lime juice, one set being kept with the sugar the other set with the rose and orange water!

Asda's Just Essentials tinned chickpeas are decent at 41p when I last looked. (The tinned kidney beans at 33p are decent too.) I use PaPa gram flour from Tesco:

https://www.tesco.com/groceries/en-GB/p ... uckgo.com/

The ingredients are listed as: Tyson chickpeas, yellow peas. Tyson chickpeas are black chickpeas:

https://sweetishhill.com/what-are-tyson-chickpeas/

Very good for adding to whole wheat flour for my flat breads. The only place that I have found with a good selection of dried beans is an Asian shop in the market.

UncleEbenezer wrote:

redsturgeon wrote:

UncleEbenezer wrote:
It seems there's more to chickpeas than I ever knew. What should I aim to try next?

Do you use dried chickpeas or canned? Have you ever had chickpeas in a jar...the best!

John

Usually dry. Occasionally (including this time) tinned. Can't say I can bring to mind ever encountering them in a jar, unless as an ingredient in some expensive concoction.

tinned is the quickest way to get aquafaba https://www.bonappetit.com/test-kitchen/ingredients/article/aquafaba-health-benefits

Swerving off at a tangent, do these tinned chick peas come with the skins removed?

I ask because I once made something long ago using dried chick peas and the recipe said to soak them overnight then rub the skins off. WHAT a palava that was! Never again...

Thanks!

Mike4 wrote:Swerving off at a tangent, do these tinned chick peas come with the skins removed?

I ask because I once made something long ago using dried chick peas and the recipe said to soak them overnight then rub the skins off. WHAT a palava that was! Never again...

Thanks!

Yup

It's just the inner bit of the garbanzo with the odd skin floating in the mad liquid.
Open, drain and add to bulk up a chili - so if you over cook the kidney beans it's not just mush

-sd

Mike4 wrote:Swerving off at a tangent, do these tinned chick peas come with the skins removed?

I ask because I once made something long ago using dried chick peas and the recipe said to soak them overnight then rub the skins off. WHAT a palava that was! Never again...

Thanks!

If making hummus then it is best to take the skins off to make it much smoother. If you boil them after soaking with bicarbonate of soda the skins come off very easily.

John

redsturgeon wrote:If making hummus then it is best to take the skins off to make it much smoother. If you boil them after soaking with bicarbonate of soda the skins come off very easily.

John

In the depth of lockdown, with hours to spare, I experimented with my hummus recipe. Previously I would chuck some garlic, a tin of chickpeas, a teaspoon of tahini, splash of lemon juice and glug of olive oil into a blender et voila. New and improved included using dried peas, soaking overnight, boiling (tried with and without bicarb not sure I could quantify the difference) and removing skins, and when blending adding small amount of ingredients in batches with the odd ice cube, omit the olive oil - just using to dress the finished bowl. Much better product but whereas the previous method could whip up a bowl in 10 minutes now it required starting the day before and more labour intensive task.
It was after reading references to Ottolenghi's recipe I saw my error.

kempiejon wrote:

redsturgeon wrote:If making hummus then it is best to take the skins off to make it much smoother. If you boil them after soaking with bicarbonate of soda the skins come off very easily.

John

In the depth of lockdown, with hours to spare, I experimented with my hummus recipe. Previously I would chuck some garlic, a tin of chickpeas, a teaspoon of tahini, splash of lemon juice and glug of olive oil into a blender et voila. New and improved included using dried peas, soaking overnight, boiling (tried with and without bicarb not sure I could quantify the difference) and removing skins, and when blending adding small amount of ingredients in batches with the odd ice cube, omit the olive oil - just using to dress the finished bowl. Much better product but whereas the previous method could whip up a bowl in 10 minutes now it required starting the day before and more labour intensive task.
It was after reading references to Ottolenghi's recipe I saw my error.

I use Yotam's recipe and since making his version I find I am less inclined to accept the graininess of the average shop bought version.

If by starting the day before, you mean taking a few seconds to pour some dried chickpeas in a bowl of water, I am quite happy to do that.

Unfortunately I used to make hummus when I had my family at home but I nowadays am less inclined to make it just for myself.

Note to self, I wonder if it freezes well?

redsturgeon wrote:I use Yotam's recipe and since making his version I find I am less inclined to accept the graininess of the average shop bought version.

Yup me too, not just the graininess but something in the taste of shop bought too, i think that was what inspired me to make at home in the first place. Perhaps because I can balance the tahini, lemon and garlic to my palate?

redsturgeon wrote:If by starting the day before, you mean taking a few seconds to pour some dried chickpeas in a bowl of water, I am quite happy to do that.

But you have to know to soak the peas the day before you intend to eat the hummus whereas canned peas and other ingredients can be blened to a hummus on a whim. Note to both would jarred peas do the trick?

kempiejon wrote:

redsturgeon wrote:I use Yotam's recipe and since making his version I find I am less inclined to accept the graininess of the average shop bought version.

Yup me too, not just the graininess but something in the taste of shop bought too, i think that was what inspired me to make at home in the first place. Perhaps because I can balance the tahini, lemon and garlic to my palate?

redsturgeon wrote:If by starting the day before, you mean taking a few seconds to pour some dried chickpeas in a bowl of water, I am quite happy to do that.

But you have to know to soak the peas the day before you intend to eat the hummus whereas canned peas and other ingredients can be blened to a hummus on a whim. Note to both would jarred peas do the trick?

I could not manage to stop myself just eating the jarred stuff as is!

kempiejon wrote:

redsturgeon wrote:If making hummus then it is best to take the skins off to make it much smoother. If you boil them after soaking with bicarbonate of soda the skins come off very easily.

John

In the depth of lockdown, with hours to spare, I experimented with my hummus recipe. Previously I would chuck some garlic, a tin of chickpeas, a teaspoon of tahini, splash of lemon juice and glug of olive oil into a blender et voila. New and improved included using dried peas, soaking overnight, boiling (tried with and without bicarb not sure I could quantify the difference) and removing skins, and when blending adding small amount of ingredients in batches with the odd ice cube, omit the olive oil - just using to dress the finished bowl. Much better product but whereas the previous method could whip up a bowl in 10 minutes now it required starting the day before and more labour intensive task.
It was after reading references to Ottolenghi's recipe I saw my error.

Agree with that, olive oil as dressing in a little depression in the hommous. As I posted before, remove the skins! Nowadays I cool the cooking liquid and use that too thin if needed, not sute whst my Lebanese cooks would have said to that. Also As I said before , if your hommous is too thin and you feel that it needs more lemon, usr lemon salt/tataric acid


john

redsturgeon wrote:I usually get my dried beans and lentils from an Indian greengrocers.

I usually grow my own dried beans and peas ( or I freeze them) not tried growing lentils, doubt if they'd do well in Northeast Scotland.