I’ve been inspired by chickpeas, and chickpeas combined with among other things chocolate. I have to say I don’t have any pictures of chickpeas so my picture above is of a chocolate cake. The chocolate cake was made with cocoa, and in looking for a recipe about chickpeas, I came across something called Dutched cocoa… more of that later…
I can’t remember when I first came across chickpeas… I’m guessing in the first couple of years of being a student, living in a so-called ‘flat’ in Manchester. We didn’t have student accommodation, we just had to find our own rooms… most of the places were awful, but I think I was stoic and hardy and having such a great time that it didn’t bother me too much…
Back to chickpeas… The first time I ever had them was when I was about seventeen or eighteen, before I went to college, and I visited a friend in London who took me to an amazing café which I realise now was a kosher place, and I had what I now think were falafels in a bun with tahini and hummus. They were so delicious and like nothing I’d had before and couldn’t even recognise what they were made of.
So actual chickpeas in a tin came a couple of years later in Manchester, and they soon became somewhat of a staple as you can imagine, along with hummus, of course. They are so ubiquitous now it’s hard to remember a time when they were only found in places like Manchester with an interesting and varied population with interesting and varied shops.
I came across a list of different things you can do with chickpeas from the cook Ivy Manning:
- crispy curried chickpeas
- Italian chickpea and pasta soup
- Moroccan roasted carrot and chickpeas
- avocado, chickpea, guacamole wraps
- smoky tomato chickpea soup
- vegetarian curry in a hurry
- Greek salad
- peanut butter chocolate chip energy bites
Quite a few of these I already make – I’m forever throwing chickpeas into soup, wraps, curry, salad, but the roasted carrot recipe sounds interesting (I have never roasted a carrot although I don’t know why not!) It is very simple, olive oil, chickpeas and carrots with cumin, paprika and cayenne, salt and pepper, roasted!
The peanut butter bites… My daughter and I have been thinking about making similar energy balls/bites – ours are going to be mainly dates and with orange oil, but the peanut butter bites – they must have chickpeas in since it’s a list of chickpea recipes!
Peanut Butter Chocolate Chip Energy Bites
- 1 tin of chickpeas, rinsed and drained
- 5 oz oats
- 5 oz peanut (or other nut) butter
- 3 oz maple syrup
- 2 tbsp brown sugar
- 1 tbsp cocoa powder
- 1 tsp vanilla extract
- 6 oz chocolate chips
- blitz the chickpeas with everything else except the chocolate chips
- stir in the chocolate chips
- take tablespoons of the mixture and roll into balls
- chill for at least an hour
I will try this but I won’t add the sugar until I’ve tasted the rest of the mixture – it does sound very sweet to me, and I think I might either miss out or reduce the choc chips
Here is a link to Ivy’s recipes, and from there to other recipes and healthy hints and tips:
https://blog.fitbit.com/chickpeas/
Ivy’s recipe called for Dutched cocoa, which I had never heard of. I don’t have any and looked it up and found out that, according to Wikipedia ‘Dutch process chocolate or Dutched chocolate is chocolate that has been treated with an alkalising agent to modify its colour and give it a milder taste compared to “natural cocoa” extracted with the Broma process‘. I like the bitter chocolate flavour that cocoa gives baked things, so even if I had some Dutched cocoa I don’t think I would use it.
Here is a link to an interesting article, with illustrations about it:
https://www.seriouseats.com/2014/08/difference-dutch-process-natural-cocoa-powder-substitute.html
Lois Elsden 