Chickpea Burgers

My love for the garbanzo is never ending. Today, I sculpted the little treasures into burgers that can be served on a bun or on a bed of fresh greens. Chickpeas are higher in protein per serving than soy beans and by nature are gluten free.

Ingredients

2 cans of chickpeas, drained
2-3 stalks of celery, diced
1/2 a red bell pepper, diced
1 small onion, diced
2-3 cloves of garlic, finely chopped
1 handful of fresh parsley or cilantro, chopped
Salt & pepper, spices
Garbanzo flour ( I use Bob's red Mill)

Oil for frying

A note about the ingredients: This is only a basic recipe for you to start with. If you prefer green bell peppers, switch out the red. Don't like peppers at all? Don't use them. Add cajun spices or curry powder for a different tasting burger. The chickpeas base can be flavored in any way desired. Regular all purpose flour can be used in place of the garbanzo flour, but then your burger will no longer be gluten free.

Warm up a large skillet on medium heat and add about a tablespoon of oil. Saute  the diced vegetables until they are softened. Add salt, pepper and desired spices. Set aside to cool off a bit.

In the meantime, mash the chickpeas with a fork or use a food processor, until they mushy but not quite even in texture.

Before

After: Next time I think I will mash them a little more.

Add your vegetables to your chickpea mash and stir together with your hands until  the mixture is even. Add the garbanzo flour in tablespoon increments until the mixture begins to hold together. Depending on the moisture of your vegetables, about 1/2 a cup of flour will be necessary. Form a patty in your hands. If it holds together you are ready to cook it; if not add a little more of the flour until you have a good consistency. This takes a little trial and error. If unsure about the right consistency, fry a small one up and see if it holds together in the pan.

Wipe your now cool skillet down with a paper towel to clean it off and place it back on medium heat. Add just enough oil to cover the bottom and once the oil is warm (drop a little mash in and see if the oil sizzles), add your patties. Cook for 3-5 minutes on each side or until each side is golden brown. Carefully remove with a spatula from the frying pan unto paper towels to absorb excess oil. 

Next time I make these I might try to bake them instead by placing them on a cookie sheet covered in parchment paper, spraying them lightly with a little oil, and baking in a 375 oven until brown.

Hummus

I am a very big fan of the chick pea and I will eat them cold in salads,  cooked in chana masala or mashed into hummus. I have to confess that this is the first time I have made my own hummus. What was I waiting for? Making your own hummus is easy to do and the end result is far superior in flavor to anything you will find in a grocery store.

Ingredients

1 can of chick peas, drained
2-5 cloves of garlic, chopped
1-2 tsps of roasted tahini paste (sesame paste)
Lemon juice (one half or one whole lemon)
Olive oil
Salt & pepper

Place chickpeas and garlic in a food processor and pulse until a thick chunky paste forms. Add tahini and lemon juice and pulse a few more times. Now run your processor on continuous and drizzle in about 1/4 cup of olive oil until your hummus has the consistency desired. Add salt and pepper to taste. Serve with fresh vegetables and or crackers.

Chickpeas on Arugula

This is a beautiful salad, if I do say so myself. This IS a beautiful salad!

Marinate chickpeas, elephant garlic, and fresh basil with a little EVOO and lemon juice. A little sea salt, fresh grated pepper, and nutritional yeast rounds out the flavor. Serve on a bed of arugula (High in vitamin C & vitamin A) with plum tomatoes. The peppery taste of the arugula marries with the fresh basil and garlic. YUM!

BTW, nutritional yeast is not the same thing as the yeast that you would use to leaven bread. It is used by vegans as a flavoring because of it's rich cheesy flavor and high content of B vitamins, especially B12.

Chana Masala

I love chick peas and Indian food. Marry them together in the dish called chana masala and you have a spicy and hearty main course.

Click on this link for the recipe from Isa Chandra Moskowitz's Post Punk Kitchen blog: Chana Masala

Because I was short on time, I put all the veggies in my blender and pulsed it until fairly smooth. I let this mixture cook down quite a bit before I added the chick peas and spice mix.

Serve with white basmati rice or the rice of your choice.

Rabe and Chick Peas!

I am on a broccoli rabe kick this week and I decided to make mine into a main dish with the splendid addition of chick peas. Seriously, I add chick peas to my dishes like other people add salt to theirs.

I started out by blanching the rabe, which consisted of dunking the rabe into boiling water for 30- 60 seconds and then immersing it in ice cold water for another 30 seconds. Set the rabe aside. Blanching helps the rabe to maintain its vibrant green color. In a large frying pan lightly covered in EVOO, I sauteed garlic, onions, red pepper flakes, and kalamata olives. Once the garlic and onion were well cooked, I added in the rabe and tossed it lightly. The final addition was, of course, a can of chick peas that had been drained and rinsed. Cannellini beans work as well! Salt and pepper as desired.

Can be eaten alone or on a hot steamy bed of brown rice.