Breaking
FoodNerdy Recipes Management System
Tag

Chickpea

Browsing
Food

Cooking or Soaking Chickpeas – You Should Know That

Cooked chickpeas are delicious, healthy and add variety to your diet. We show you how you can easily prepare them yourself and when you have to soak the chickpeas.

The chickpea, which originated in Asia, came to Europe in the Middle Ages and is very popular today. Whether in curries, salads, falafel or hummus – the buttery-nutty-tasting legume gives many dishes an oriental touch and is also very healthy.

Never eat chickpeas raw

Organic chickpeas are commercially available in two forms:

as a pre-cooked preserve in a jar or in a can
raw and dried
If you are in a hurry, you can use the pre-cooked chickpeas directly. Do not throw away the chickpea water from the jar or can, you can use the aquafaba as vegan egg whites.

Dried chickpeas, on the other hand, have to be soaked and cooked first. If you cook the raw chickpeas, the toxin phasin they contain is destroyed and makes the valuable legume safe for us to eat. Caution: You have to throw away the soaking water in which the raw chickpeas were, because the toxin phasin dissolves in the water during soaking. The chickpeas and the cooking water can only be eaten after cooking.

Soaking chickpeas – time-consuming, but useful

Soaking the chickpeas takes time. It is best to plan one night for this. However, the time investment pays off: If you have soaked the chickpeas, they will be easier to digest. In addition, it shortens the subsequent cooking time considerably and thus allows energy-saving preparation that is gentle on vital substances.

How to properly soak chickpeas:

In a saucepan, cover the chickpeas with twice the amount of water and let them soak for at least 12 hours.
During the swelling period, the chickpeas absorb a lot of water. You may have to add a little more water if necessary.
Discard the soaking water afterwards to remove any residue of the toxin phasin.
Rinse the chickpeas thoroughly with fresh water.

How to properly cook chickpeas

You can boil the chickpeas in water the classic way:

Place the soaked chickpeas in a pressure cooker.
Cover them with fresh water. Make sure that the top third of the pressure cooker remains free.
Close the pot and set steam pressure level 2.
If the lid starts to hiss, turn off the stove or reduce the heat significantly.
After 20 minutes, open the lid as instructed in the pressure cooker instructions.
The chickpeas are done when you can easily mash them with a fork.
Put the chickpeas in a colander and rinse them with fresh water.
Tip: If you don’t have a pressure cooker, the peas will need to cook longer—at least an hour. Basically, the longer the chickpeas were soaked beforehand, the faster they will cook. That saves energy. If you let them soak in water for 24 hours, the cooking time in the pressure cooker is reduced to just ten minutes.

The cooking time also depends on whether you need the chickpeas buttery soft for making hummus or still al dente for use in curry or salad.

Another rule: the fresher the chickpeas are, the shorter they need to cook.

Chickpeas – not only delicious, but also healthy!

Chickpeas not only taste delicious, but are also extremely healthy. Chickpeas have these nutritional values:

With their high fiber content, they promote healthy digestion.
They have a high protein content and are therefore a vegetable protein source.
The legumes contain notable amounts of iron, zinc and magnesium.
Chickpeas are low in calories and fill you up at the same time.

Keep Reading
By
Food

Freeze Chickpeas: This Way You Always Have Them Ready to Cook

Freezing chickpeas is a great way to always have the healthy legumes ready to cook. We’ll show you what to look out for when freezing chickpeas and how to use them.

Freezing chickpeas preserves the legumes even when cooked. Recipes that use chickpeas usually call for cooked chickpeas. However, the cooking time of legumes is very long, so they are not suitable for a quick meal uncooked.

Chickpeas are healthy because they have valuable vegetable protein, proteins and other healthy ingredients. Legumes are used in a variety of ways in the kitchen. If you freeze cooked chickpeas, you’ll always have them ready to cook.

When buying chickpeas, pay attention to organic quality. This protects the environment, since organically certified seals such as Demeter or Bioland do not use synthetic chemical pesticides.

By the way: in your own garden is very easy. You can grow your own chickpeas in the garden to avoid having to buy them at the store. This is how to plant and care for chickpeas.

Freeze chickpeas: this is how it works

Freezing chickpeas is quick and easy. Only the cooked chickpeas are suitable for freezing. Because in the dried state, properly packaged, the legumes can be kept for many months.

If you want to freeze chickpeas, then proceed as follows:

Cook the chickpeas according to package instructions. In another article, you’ll learn everything you need to know about cooking or soaking chickpeas.
Catch the chickpea water, because you can use it in many ways. In another post we have tips on this: Don’t throw away chickpea water! 5 ideas how to use it
Let the cooked chickpeas cool.
Place the cooked chickpeas in a freezeproof, sealable container. Make sure the containers are reusable. This is how you avoid rubbish. Also read: Freezing food without plastic
Place the container of chickpeas in your freezer. Important: If you are freezing in glass, do not fill the glass to the top, but leave some space so that the chickpeas can expand during freezing. Also, only close the lid after a few hours in the freezer, otherwise the jar may burst if the contents expand too much.
Tip: Freeze the chickpeas in several small containers. So you always have the right amount at hand for a meal.

Recipe ideas for chickpeas

Freezing cooked chickpeas will keep the legumes for a few months. Get them out of the freezer when you need them and use them in delicious dishes. You have two options for this:

Thaw the chickpeas before cooking:

Place them in a bowl in the fridge overnight to use the next day, or
let them thaw at room temperature for a few hours.
If you want it a little faster, put the frozen chickpeas in a small bowl and thaw them in a water bath over medium heat.
With the thawed chickpeas, you can cook particularly well recipes in which the chickpeas are pureed or should be used fresh, i.e. not further cooked and baked. For example, try the recipe for a classic hummus or a fresh chickpea salad.

Use frozen chickpeas:

Add the frozen chickpeas to a soup or warm dish and cook with the remaining ingredients until soft again.

Recipes that use cooked chickpeas also work well to use your frozen chickpeas. For example, they taste great in chickpea curry or chickpea soup.

Tip: Fry the frozen chickpeas in a little oil in a pan. Once they have softened, season them with herbs and spices of your choice.

Keep Reading
By
Food

Chickpea Brownies: Recipe Without Flour

Chickpea Brownies are a delicious alternative to traditional brownies. In this article we will show you a recipe that is gluten-free, vegan and high in protein and does not require flour.

These chickpea brownies are particularly juicy and full-bodied. At the same time, you stay full longer because they are rich in protein and fiber thanks to the chickpeas. They are very easy to make and taste good with afternoon coffee or as a snack in between. In addition to an oven and a baking pan, you will also need a blender.

We recommend that you buy the ingredients in organic quality. This is how you avoid chemical-synthetic pesticides. We can particularly recommend the organic seals from Demeter, Bioland and Naturland, as they follow stricter criteria than the EU organic seal. In addition, it makes sense, especially with cocoa powder, to pay attention to the Fairtrade seal. This is how you support better working conditions and fairer trade.

A recipe for chickpea brownies – without flour

Ingredients:

450 g canned or jarred chickpeas
5 tbsp rolled oats
3 tablespoons cocoa powder
1 teaspoon Baking powder
2 tbsp almond butter
1 tablespoon coconut oil
3 ELA horn syrup or raw cane sugar
150 ml plant drink
1 pinch(s) of salt
1 pinch(s) of cinnamon

Directions:

Wash the chickpeas in a colander under running water and drain well. You can also use your own cooked chickpeas.
Place the chickpeas in a blender with all other ingredients. Make sure that the coconut oil has a liquid to creamy-soft consistency and is not too hard. Reheat briefly on the stovetop, in the microwave, or in the oven if necessary. Mix everything until a homogeneous mass is formed.
Pour the batter into a medium-sized, shallow baking dish. You can also use a casserole dish.
Heat the oven to 180 degrees Celsius and let the chickpea brownies bake for 35 to 40 minutes.
Remove the chickpea brownies from the oven and let them cool before slicing.

Keep Reading
By
Food

Chickpea and Avocado Salad: High-protein Recipe for Spring

A chickpea and avocado salad goes well with springtime. It provides you with vegetable proteins, healthy fats and a large portion of fresh seasonal vegetables. We present you a vegan recipe.

Spring brings an abundance of fresh local vegetables. These include radishes, spring onions and spinach. They look particularly good in a nutritious and quick-to-make chickpea and avocado salad.

Chickpeas provide you with an extra portion of vegetable protein and the avocado contains many valuable unsaturated fatty acids in addition to vitamins and minerals. The avocado is considered a superfood – just one avocado a week can reduce the risk of heart attack.

However, you should not eat avocados in large quantities. The drupe is associated with a poor ecological balance, which is partly due to the high water consumption in cultivation and the long transport routes.

Recipe: This is how you prepare the chickpea and avocado salad

It is therefore best to only buy avocados as an exception and for special dishes – such as this chickpea and avocado salad. We also recommend that the avocado and other ingredients are organic if possible. Organic farming does not use synthetic chemical pesticides that can be harmful to the environment and health.

Ingredients:

265 g cooked chickpeas
200 g fresh spinach
3spring onions
200 g radishes
1avocado
4 tablespoons soy yoghurt
1 tbsp lemon juice
0.5 tsp garlic powder
salt and pepper
sweetener to taste (optional)

Directions:

If you are using jarred chickpeas, give them a quick wash in a colander. Wash the spinach, spring onions and radishes. If necessary, remove the hard stems from the spinach.
Cut the spring onions into rolls and the radishes into slices. Peel and cut the avocado into chunks.
Place the chickpeas, greens, and avocado in a bowl. For the dressing, whisk together the yogurt, lemon juice, garlic powder, salt, and pepper. Pour the dressing over the chickpea and avocado salad and mix well.
Season the chickpea and avocado salad with salt, pepper and, if necessary, a little sweetener. Let the salad sit for half an hour before serving.

Chickpea and Avocado Salad: This makes it even tastier

The chickpea and avocado salad taste particularly good if you add vegan feta and a homemade baguette. You can also vary the salad as you like:

  • Fresh herbs such as mint and chives add variety to the taste.
  • You can also choose other vegan yogurt alternatives for the dressing, such as coconut yogurt.
  • Or you try a completely different salad dressing for the chickpea and avocado salad.
  • You can also use lamb’s lettuce instead of spinach.
Keep Reading
By
Food

11 Amazing Facts About Chickpea

The humble little chickpea is a special plant. There is a lot of evidence for the benefits of chickpea, thanks to which, it is popular to this day. Here are some interesting facts that you might not have guessed about.

  1. Chickpeas first appeared in the Middle East around 7,500 BC. Its popularity quickly spread throughout the world, and soon it began to be grown in almost all ancient civilizations.
  2. Chickpeas are called differently: chickpeas, lamb peas, Egyptian peas, tsetzi pods. It comes in different types, sizes and colors.
  3. This miraculous plant not only provides a valuable crop, but also serves as a natural remedy for destroying wheat and barley diseases.
  4. Scientists are sure that people have “smartened up” thanks to this miracle of peas, which is directly related to the production of serotonin, which ensures the transmission of impulses from cells.
  5. Peas are rich in vitamins and minerals. It contains almost the entire periodic table.
  6. It is believed that eating chickpeas can renew the blood.
  7. Chickpea helps with diabetes, those who have been exposed to radiation, as well as with anemia, arrhythmias, nervousness, dental problems and inflammation of the gums, acne and skin rashes. In addition, it cleans blood vessels and normalizes blood pressure.
  8. After the devastating wars that ended by the beginning of the 9th century, King Charlemagne ordered the sowing of the devastated fields with chickpeas to provide the people with nutritious and healthy food.
  9. There is an Arabic recipe for an aphrodisiac. It was actively used by emirs, going on dates to their numerous wives in harems. The recipe for an Arabian aphrodisiac: squeezed onion juice, honey and puree from chickpeas boiled in camel milk.
  10. The director of “Star Wars” was a big fan of this pea and even gave the name Nut to one of the main characters.
  11. Chickpeas contain the substance methionine, which prevents obesity of internal organs and calms the nervous system.
Keep Reading
By
Food

Chickpea Nutritional Values: The Legume is so Healthy

The nutritional values ​​of chickpeas turn the inconspicuous legumes into real powerhouses. Find out more about calories, nutritional values ​​and what makes chickpeas healthy here.

We humans have been growing chickpeas as a crop for around 8,000 years. And the legumes are still extremely popular as small all-rounders. Their mild, nutty flavor suits a variety of cuisines – whether Mediterranean or Asian. They can also be processed in a variety of ways, for example to make hummus or falafel.

In addition to its culinary advantages, the chickpea scores with its nutritional values ​​and the many healthy ingredients. This makes them an enrichment for every menu. Chickpeas are particularly valuable for a plant-based diet in which legumes replace animal protein.

Chickpeas: nutritional values ​​at a glance

Chickpeas are usually available in two varieties: dried or cooked and canned.

100 grams of dried chickpeas have the following nutritional values:
Energy: 378kcal
Fat: 6g
Carbohydrates: 63g
Egg white: 20.5 g
100 grams of cooked chickpeas have these nutritional values:
Energy: 128kcal
Fat: 1.6g
Carbohydrates: 20.8g
Protein: 8g
There is a lot of protein in chickpeas. They also contain the essential amino acids lysine and threonine – the body needs these in order to produce new proteins. This is what makes legumes so popular in a vegetarian or vegan diet.

With over 300 kilocalories per 100 grams (dried), chickpeas are not very low in calories. But in vegetarian or vegan dishes, they serve as a healthy substitute for meat and as an important source of energy.

Chickpeas also contain a lot of fiber: 100 grams of dried chickpeas contain 12.2 grams of fiber. This covers almost 50 percent of the amount of fiber that we should eat every day. Fiber fills you up, regulates blood sugar levels, lowers cholesterol levels and is important for a healthy intestinal flora.

Nutrients in chickpeas: vitamins, minerals and trace elements

In addition to the nutritional values ​​​​of chickpeas mentioned above, other ingredients are also important. Chickpeas contain a large number of vitamins and minerals, such as:
Vitamin A: Vitamin A ensures good vision and is important for a functioning immune system and strong bones.
Vitamin B1: Vitamin B1 is essential for the functioning of our nervous system.
Vitamin B6: It helps to build proteins in the body, forms hemoglobin and is involved in the growth and development of the body during pregnancy.
Vitamin C: strengthens the immune system and ensures that the body can protect itself against free radicals.
Vitamin E: It has an antioxidant effect and thus protects against free radicals, which, among other things, can contribute to premature skin aging.
Iron: Iron is important for oxygen to be transported through the blood.
Zinc: The substance accelerates wound healing and strengthens the immune system.
Magnesium: It has an anti-inflammatory effect, builds bones and is important for a strong heart muscle.
Conclusion: The nutritional values ​​​​of chickpeas show: The small legumes are real powerhouses and are particularly good in plant-based main dishes. Because they contain so much protein, chickpeas can be used as a meat substitute. So how about a couscous salad with chickpeas or a beetroot spread with chickpeas? The liquid from canned chickpeas can also be used to make aquafaba, a vegan egg white alternative.

Keep Reading
By