Crispy Chickpeas for Salad and Snacking

Chickpeas, or garbanzo beans, Garbanzo is a great word to say out loud, gar-ban-zo! Just last week I was in the grocery store, in the canned beans area, picking up some black beans and a guy was staring at the wall of beans and looked so overwhelmed. He caught my eye and asked "can I ask you a question?" I love being asked question in the supermarket because i am full of knowledge in this area. Like the elderly lady who likes to hang around the yarn store to tell people the best way to put fringe on their afghans, (this happens). So back to beans, this guy was so confused if the can marked Garbanzo Beans was the same thing as chickpeas. I assured him they were one and the same, and go by both names. I guess he was British, from his accent. And in the UK the little things are always called chickpeas, and in other areas (Spain, for one, they are garbanzos) We in the USA cannot decide.

Which brings me to think about canned beans, I used to buy many more canned beans, and chickpeas were always canned. I thought they never got soft if you made them from dry ones. Sometime in the last few years this changed, I began making a pot of beans every week or two, and I tried chickpeas a few times, now I alternate beans one week, chickpeas the next. I make hummus and these yummy spiced crispy fried chickpeas. I still make sure to have a few cans of beans in the cabinet for "emergency" food if we need huevos rancheros one morning.  

You can make the spicy crispy chickpeas with either type, you may be like me and think that dried beans and chickpeas in particular take too long to cook and are too much trouble. I will just remind you that dried beans cost pennies compared to canned ones and the trick is to properly soak them. Proper soaking is especially important with chicky-chicky garbanzos. 

I put them in water at night before bed, if i am going to cook them the next evening. I soak most of my beans for 6 hours, but chickpeas (it sounds extreme) I like to soak 12 to 24 hours on the counter. But this is so easy: a bowl, dry beans, water to cover by at least twice the volume. In this time, they plump up and release all these foamy gassy bubbles (see the picture!) After 24 hours they have an almost transparent quality and rattle around like marbles. I like to stir them around with my fingers. 

Before cooking, always pour out the soaking water (the water turns all yellow!), and give them a good rinse until the water is clear. Then it is a matter of boiling them till done. Cover with plenty of water two or 3 times the volume, no need to measure. Bring to a boil and keep at an active simmer for an hour, or until they are tender. When you press one between your fingers it should have some resistance and then smush. More al dente than smushy hummus. 

A few thoughts. If you have hard water, your beans will never really get soft because of the minerals, you might like to use filtered water. If you have a pressure cooker, this is the perfect time to use it! I use my pressure cooker always, I find if I time 15 minutes after the pressure comes up. Then turn it off and let the pressure come down by itself, they are perfect. 

Strain the little beauties through a colander. In order to get the crispy ones crispy, it is helpful to dry them for a bit. So pour them onto a tea towel in a layer and do something else for a half hour.  (The same goes for canned chickpeas, rinse well, lay to dry) 

Good, now the chickpeas go into a bowl with salt and the middle eastern spices; cardamom, cumin and allspice. Tossed around it all sticks to them, beautiful. 

Heat a heavy skillet with enough olive oil to coat the bottom like a puddle. When it is hot and shimmery, add the spiced garbanzos. Shake them about and leave them to fry for 3 minutes or so, come back in and stir them around, repeat. they cook in 10 minutes or so. I like when they start to split open, the frying bubbles will subside and there will be less oil in the pan, this is how you know they are done. Remove with a spoon to drain in paper towels for a moment.

Crispy crunchy chicky chicky! Don't burn yourself, wait a moment. When shaken around they sound terrific. These are an awesome snack by themselves.

They are so awesome they make any salad more awesome. Today I made a salad of fresh green lettuces, kale, cucumbers, and red spring onion. A squeeze of fresh lime and plenty of olive oil made a fine dressing. Then I had a hankering for some creamy tahini dressing on the chickpeas, so I mixed that up really quickly. It did make it that much more delicious. It was a nice dinner, I am eagerly catching up on Game of Thrones, as fast as Netflix can send them. Yes, I often eat on the couch in front of the TV. Quelle horreur! 

Note: Leftovers are so so, they looks the crispy pop. To refresh them, cook in a hot pan for a few minutes until dry and crisp again. 

Crispy Chickpeas 

1 1/2 cups Cooked Chickpeas (1/2 cup when dry)

1/2 teaspoon salt

1 1/2 tsp ground allspice

1 tsp ground cardamom

1 tsp ground cumin

about a 1/4 cup olive oil 

Cook, drain and dry the chickpeas. Toss in a bowl with the salt and spices. Heat a heavy frying pan with olive oil to create a puddle on the bottom. Toss in the chickpeas when the oil is hot (do in 2 batches if your pan is small.) Shake periodically, after about 10 minutes when the bubbles in the oil have subsided and there is less oil in the pan, and the chickpeas begin to split: remove them from the pan to drain on paper towels. 

Add on top of salads or eat with a meze platter of olives and other yummies. 

Kale Salad and a Secret Skill that will wow your friends

 The other day, I made kale salad three times! Firstly, for my husband to bring to work for his lunch (he is very close to finishing this degree, I am maximizing his study time by doling out lunches and dinners).

Secondly, for lunch while at my friend's home.

Finally, for myself for dinner, because the fridge was full of kale and that was the smart thing to do.

I could have made one big batch if I knew. I best like kale salad after it has sat in the fridge for 6 hours or so, the citrus in the dressing marinates the leaves, it is very nice.








Most of us have made kale salad (right?) So I am going to start right out with this 
Secret Kitchen Skill which will WOW your friends:
Most people have never seen this. Unless you have worked in restaurant kitchens, then maybe you have.

I learned it while working at a bakery in SF where needed to do cases of greens to cook into our quiches.

Do YOU enjoy TOUGH chewy FIBROUS stems in your kale dishes? Do you like carefully cutting the stems out of collard greens? NO, of course not, neither do I.

This is the fastest and easiest way to strip leafy greens from the stems. This works with kale,  swiss chard, collards, and most other vitamin filled leafy greens you could ever find.

Grab your bunch of farmers market kale, four fingers (two on each hand) and here is a (WOW) movie of my kale technique to explain it all better than my words will.

If you are right handed: take the base of the stem firmly in you left hand, and pinch with the thumb and forefinger of your right hand right at the place where the leaf begins on the stem. Keep pinching firmly, and rapidly pull your hands in opposite directions.

Watch your friends' jaws drop open. They will say, with quizzical looks "Whaa, how did you...do that again!"

Collect the leafy greens in a pile and sent the stems into the juicer or compost pile.

*Disclaimer: If your kale is old as the hills, near dead and limp, this technique wont work. Get yourself to the market and buy some new vegetables.

Now that you have a beautiful pile of stem-less kale lets daydream about all the wonderful things you can do with it. saute, lasagna, chips...

I'm still on the salad. When the kale is super fresh, straight from the farm, it is sinful not to eat it raw! The fresh leaves is have such a great crunch. They are still full of water and life.

I like dinosaur (lacinato) kale, cut crosswise into 1/4 inch ribbons.

I also like the crinkly green kale, like the one in these photos, if it is young and tender. Just ripped off the stems, like I just showed you, and torn into a few smaller pieces.

Lemon or lime, sometimes a bit of apple cider vinegar and plenty of good olive oil makes the perfect dressing. And dont forget the sea salt, very important to generously salt the salad.

After that, it is all about what is around in the pantry. My favorite topping is toasted pumpkin seeds. Goat cheese or avocado, if I have one. Cold boiled potatoes are also really good in there.

For those craving animal protein, hard boiled eggs, sardines, or tuna fish turn it into a hearty meal.

Kale Salad with Pumpkin Seeds

a bunch of kale leaves
juice of lemon or lime
olive oil
pinch of salt
handfull of pumpkin seeds (pepitas)

Remove tough stems for kale with fantastic method mentioned above. Tear or slice leaves into bite sized pieces. Put into a bowl.

Squeeze citrus juice over the leaves (about 1/2 a lime per serving, 1/2 a lemon for 2 servings.) Drizzle olive oil on and a hearty pinch of sea salt.


With one (clean) hand, massage the kale. This is a important step if you cant wait around 6 hours for it to marinate. Just squeeze it and let it go, squeeze it again, like you are trying to wring out a sponge. Take about a minute massaging the salad.
Yup.
Now taste a piece, is it good? Does it need more salt? If you pucker from the sour citrus, add more olive oil. Yup.
Now you can wash your hands.

Put the pumpkin seeds into a small dry fry pan. Turn the heat on, in a minute or two they will begin to toast on the bottom and puff up. Shake the pan around a few times. When they are overall, toasted and puffed, turn off the heat and tip them on top of your salad.

toasting pumpkin seeds

If your eyes were bigger than your stomach, it does keep very well for a day or two (covered & in the fridge.) Bring it for lunch to work and you can brag about your new kale prepping skill.

If you try it, send me a comment, will this change how you prep leafy greens in the future?

Kale salad with toasted pumpkin seeds and peppered goat cheese