I’ve seen tons of references to spicy crunchy chickpeas and have meant to give ‘em a whirl for a while now. Well, I finally did it.

I went with onion powder and salt, to keep it simple. I wasn’t sure how strongly the chickpea flavor would come through, and I know there’s an Asian snack I like (don’t remember where it’s from or what it’s called) that’s pretty much chickpea flour, oil, onion, and salt.

I spread a layer of cooked chickpeas in a baking dish and drizzled canola oil over them. After sprinkling a bit of onion powder and salt over them I gave ‘em a little shake to coat. I went easy on the onion powder while they were cooking in case it got burny. After about 30 minutes in a 450° oven (with a bit of a shaking midway), I hit them again with salt and onion.

After storing leftovers overnight, I threw them in the toaster oven for a few minutes to refresh.

Super good. Super easy. Super cheap. Snackriffic.

Dinner doesn’t get much more square than this. That is clearly a meat, starch, and a veg. The meat is my first crack at the Veganomicon chickpea cutlet. You can so believe the hype on this one—when I read about something on every vegan blog, the rebel in me figures it can’t be that good and I’m not getting roped into this one, but this recipe is most likely a new standby. It’s much like a fake chicken; I can see it in a sandwich, in a “chicken parm” situation, and I’m thinkin’ it might even be good cold. (I have one left over so I’ll find out tomorrow.)

The starch is cracked wheat bulgur, cooked with vegetable broth. I’ve never made this before, so I followed the soaking directions for fluffier results, adding boiling broth to the bulgur then letting it set an hour before simmering. I don’t know how it would have turned out otherwise, but I liked what I had.

And the veg is a French green bean (freedom bean?) steamed then sauteed with garlic and red pepper flakes. That’s some peppy beans.

What’s more American than chocolate chip cookies? These are from VWAV, but with some cinnamon, coconut, and replacer for one egg. I don’t know what I do but just following the recipe gives me a really dry cookie. Adding the egg replacer just works for me. What I forgot this time is that I usually halve the recipe. So now I’ve got four dozen—well, three and a half now—cookies.

Now I just have to sit and wait for the fireworks. And to my family in Chicago, maybe next year. (I know I say that every year, but I mean it. And you guys don’t even blow stuff up the way you used to. We’ve all gotten old.)

Well, here it is, after a week or so since I promised a hummus recipe. (I went ahead and froze the chickpeas.)

Ingredients:
·2c cooked chickpeas
·1 head roasted garlic
·4T tahini
·4T lemon juice
·3T water
·salt to taste
·garlic powder or a clove fresh garlic

Tom likes his hummus fluffy and found that adding more liquid tends to make it fluffier. If you prefer a dense consistency, leave most or all of the water out. And a head of roasted garlic isn’t really that much, because it’s a milder, sweeter flavor. For another level of garlic, add some fresh minced garlic or powder.

This recipe is the reason we bought a food processor. Sure, we’ve used it for other things, but it’s paid for itself in its hummus-making alone. Originally, Tom had tried fork and potato-masher mashing methods, but modern machinery really comes in handy here. (The only chore, then, is cleaning it.) Because we make our own tahini, if we don’t have some left over, he’ll make that just before the hummus to avoid having to wash everything out again.

You can just toss everything in and turn the processor on, stopping it just a couple times to scrape the sides down (and taste as you go). If you’re not sure you want so much lemon or want to play with the water ratio, add it in stages, but the less liquid, the harder your blending will be. You may need to pulse it and scrape down the sides more often.

We’ll sometimes make double batches, half at a time, adding different flavors. Sun-dried tomato is a favorite, and it really is as simple as throwing some sun-dried tomatoes in with the rest of it. Remember, it freezes just fine (and you can share).

Oh yeah, and it’ll taste better after a night in the fridge.

I’ve really, honestly, with the purest of hearts tried to like hummus. Super high in protein and dietary fiber, with some iron and calcium thrown in for fun, it’s one of those you-gotta-be-kidding-me-healthy foods. It’s just not for me, and I’ve come to accept that. The fella I share my home with, however, loves it. He could eat it for lunch and dinner every day.

When he first tried to make his own, the recipe he used was of the quick-n-easy variety, a step up, I suppose, from the powder in the box. You know, a can of this and a jar of that… It was all right, but it occurred to me that a from-scratch hummus would taste so much better (for him, of course; for me it still tastes like gritty garlic porridge), and it couldn’t possibly be that tough.

So we bought ourselves a pound of dried chickpeas (garbanzos) and a big ol’ bag of sesame seeds. These are the precursors of hummus. Not only does this extra effort produce a yummier product, but it’s way cheaper. For the price of a can of cooked chickpeas, you’ll get eight times as much from bulk dried beans. And tahini is pretty much toasted sesame seeds thrown in a food processor, so if you buy bulk seeds (not those 1-ounce bottles in the grocery store) it’s none too pricey. 

To prepare the chickpeas:
·Throw them in a pot and give them a rinse—you don’t know where those beans have been. Throw away any mutants. They’re your beans, so if you don’t like the cut of their jib, they’re gone.
·Cover the beans and then some with filtered water (it’s going to get soaked up into the beans so you might as well keep the lead and other nasties out) and walk away for 8 hours. Overnight or when you’re leaving for the day is perfect.
·After soaking, change the water. Again look for mutants. They’re a little bigger now and easier to spot.
·Simmer (covered) for about an hour to an hour and a half, depending on the size of your beans. Check every once in a while for tenderness. You don’t want them completely mushy but they should be softer than a nut. They’ll keep cooking and sharing moisture after you take them off the heat, so they should have just a bit of a bite to ‘em.

At this point, I usually stick them in the fridge until Tom’s ready for them (a day or two). They also freeze fine.

To prepare the tahini:
·Line a pan with sesame seeds. They can be up to a quarter inch deep—you’re not really trying to brown them. I use my toaster oven, but it can get messy when you’re stirring them about.
·Toast away at 400°, checking them and stirring them every few minutes. This won’t take too long. You’ll know by the smell when they’re done because the oils are releasing, which is why you’re toasting them in the first place.
·Let them cool off just a bit before trying to get them into your food processor. And be prepared to lose a few during the transfer. They tend to stick, what with the oils being released, so be careful.
·Stand back and let the blade do the work. If you’ve ever made peanut butter, it’s the same idea. At first they’re just going to fly around and get cut up. Then they come together and get creamy.
·Toward the end, you can add a little olive oil (or sesame oil, I suppose) to get it to the consistency you like. If you’re putting olive oil in your hummus anyway, adding it here won’t hurt. Just don’t add it before the seeds are broken down into the buttery state.

This also stores in the fridge…for a while. Like a month with no issue.

Enough for one day! Maybe tomorrow we’ll throw it all together and call it hummus.