A Festival of Chickpeas

Okay, I am back on my wagon. This weekend, I experimented with chickpeas. The bowl of chickpea salad was my only successful turnout. The chickpea fritters are from The Daily Raw Cafe. Click on the name to get the recipe. I left out the mint and red bell peppers only because I didn't have any. They are falafel-like, but not quite. They kind of tasted like Alissa Cohen's "Chicken Fingers" in her book Living On Live Food. In a salad, they worked great.

This is a photo of sprouted chickpeas. How to sprout chickpeas is here, at the Daily Raw Cafe. I sprouted two sets of chickpeas. I placed a cup and a half in a sprouting jar and followed Terrilynn's explanations to the letter. Perfect turnout. I also sprouted what I had left in the bag in a colander. I had read about people sprouting in bowls, so I tried it. I soaked a cup of chickpeas in a huge Tupperware bowl overnight. Again, following Terrilynn's instructions, I rinsed them 4 times a day, but left them in a colander. They sprouted exactly the same way as the ones in the sprouting jar. So, no, you do not need a sprouting jar. My logic was that the chickpeas need to breathe, including the ones on the bottom, which is why I used a colander. I put the Tupperware bowl underneath after rinsing just long enough to catch the water, then I left the colander on the counter. Easy and breezy. Rinse 4 times a day and they were done 24 hours after they were done soaking.

So I tried to recreate my favorite cooked vegan recipe, and I failed miserably. I'm not upset. The Wright Brothers failed a lot trying to build an airplane, so I'm okay with it all. The cooked version is canned or separately cooked dried chickpeas, sauteed garlic & onions, dried rosemary, tomatoes, and red chili pepper flakes. Heat it all together and serve with cooked spinach and rice. Top with Aaoli, which is mayonnaise and garlic mixed together. To "veganize it" I used Veganaise instead of mayonnaise. That recipe was so fantastic. I miss it terribly. In above photo is the sprouted chickpeas, garlic, onion, tomatoes, fresh rosemary, and red chili flakes. I put it in the oven at 170 degrees trying to soften the chickpeas. (I really did not know what I was doing.) They were still crunchy. I wanted soft.

I put them in lettuce and topped with aaoli. Kind of ick. Okay, but not great. Arrrgh. But I tried. Then I put the chickpeas in the food processor to soften them. Double ick. So the good news is that I will try again, and I did get a great chickpea salad out of the whole weekend.

And what were my kids doing this whole time? Watching Thomas the Tank Engine. They didn't have much interest in chickpeas, but they do love cookies. Next up: EFT (Emotional Freedom Technique), Hershey Bars, Chocolate Chip Cookies, Raw Emotions, and what I've been eating!

love,

Althea

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A Festival of Chickpeas