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Dinner Tonight: Popcorn Chickpeas

Posted by Nick Kindelsperger, August 13, 2007 at 3:55 PM

Call me crazy, but I didn’t know that if you heated whole chickpeas they would get crisp and pop. Most of the chickpeas I ingest come all puréed or in deep-fried balls, so I guess I was missing out on this phenomenon.

I pulled this from the The Herbal Kitchen, a gorgeously laid out book about the joys of using herbs in just about everything. I had also thought about chickpeas and parsley, probably because of the hundreds of falafel sandwiches I’ve downed. But the rosemary makes this a much heartier dish. Though definitely not a main course, it is an easy little snack good for those tired of the normal chips and dips. It even tastes good reheated, which you can't say about popcorn. However, like popcorn, it tastes better and better with every additional pinch of salt.

Popcorn Chickpeas

Ingredients

1 15-ounce can of chickpeas
1 tablespoon rosemary, finely chopped
1 clove garlic
3 tablespoons olive oil
Salt and pepper

Procedure

1. Drain the chickpeas and dry off on a paper towel.

2. Heat the olive oil in a skillet over medium high heat. Add the chickpeas. Cook for 5 minutes, shaking occasionally, until darkened.

3. Drain the chickpeas again to get rid of some of the oil. Return the chickpeas back to the empty skillet over medium heat and add the garlic and rosemary. Season with salt and pepper, and plate festively.

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Tags: chickpeas, Dinner Tonight, Super Bowl appetizers, vegetables, vegetarian

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