Thursday, August 12, 2010

My Unremarkable Chickpeas


It was prettyful, it was colourful, it was not tasty!

Chickpeas aka: Grabanzo Beans, I've realized I don't mind them!  I quite like them as the main ingredient in hummus (especially roasted red pepper hummus).  Earlier this summer my firend got a chickpea salad from the grocery store deli, delish.  So I decided this week (remember trying new foods) to come up with my own chickpea creation to have little delightful zingy bites in my salad!

1/2c serving = 2 points

1 can chickpeas (garbanzo beans) rinsed & drained
Eyeballed amount of Kraft Caloriewise Zesty Italian Dressing (great stuff its 5cal per tbsp!)
Sprinkling of dehydrated onion (too lazy to cut up red one I've got)
A little minced garlic
Chopped green, red & yellow peppers
Chopped carrots

Put it all in a container shake, shake, shake baby!  Put in the fridge.

Well there were no delightful zingy bites in my lunchtime salad today.  So I'm wondering what can I do to liven this up?  I'd be interested in ideas or recepies!  Chickpeas are an uncharted territory for me!

Should I put in REAL FRESH onion?
Olives might be tasty!
A little lemon or lime juice?
More dressing?  Or perhaps the ones at the bottom will be super tasty tomorrow?

3 comments:

Rebel In Ontario said...

The longer they sit, the better they taste! These are a staple in my fridge as my littlest one loves them. I just do the zesty italian dressing and leave them sitting.

NEEDLEWINGS said...

I would be adding some salsa with cilantro or Louisiana hot sauce!

Jo said...

I have a few recipies with chick peas in, this is my favourite, as I LOVE Indian curry (which is what life usually thwos at me, following on from your latest post!). It's actually my neighbour, Ruby's recipie, and it's fabulous. I cut down the oil a lot from the amount tradiitonally used, but think you still need a certain amount to make the flavors of the spices work - but it could (?) be made with low fat cooking spray, reducing the recipie total by 2.5 points (assuming points are the same both sides of the pond).

Channa Masala

Serves 2
3.5 points per serving
(or if served as a side dish, 2 points for ¼ of the dish)

½ medium onion, sliced
½ can chopped tomatoes
1 can chickpeas
1 tablespoon vegetable oil (corn or ground nut are good)
¼ - ½ teaspoon mild madras curry powder
¼ - ½ teaspoon turmeric
¼ - ½ teaspoon ground coriander
¼ - ½ teaspoon salt
¼ - ½ teaspoon chilli powder
1 green chilli
¼- ½ teaspoon garam masala (or to taste)
Water
Fresh coriander, roughly chopped


Fry the onion until golden brown
Add chopped tomatoes and cook for 2 mins
Add salt and all spices apart from the garam masala, green chilli and chick peas. Add a little water to thin if necessary. Cook for 5-10 mins.
Add the garam masala and fresh coriander to serve.

I have two other recipies - Morroccan fish stew with chick peas (adapted from a Bill Grainger recipie) and a Morroccan lamb dish with chick peas and dried apricots. I've not made the latter in ages, and I don't think I've ever pointed it up, but if I can work out which book it is on I can send that on also!