Chick Peas

[chefzadi]

We like our chick peas in North Africa and the Middle East. They seem to show up almost everywhere. In Algeria it's hard to go a day without seeing/eating/being offered something with a chick pea in it.

So what are your favorite or least favorite ways to have chick peas?

[Behemoth]

We are not alone:

Garbanzo beans: what are your favorite dishes

[ludja]

What are some of the classic North African preparations?

I'm imagining some chiles in there which sounds good to me.

I think the only Middle Eastern dish I've made with them is hummus...

[chefzadi]

Chick pea snack. Whole Roasted chick peas that are spiced before serving.

Chick pea pie.

Chick pea fries or fritters

Chick pea puree (hummus, we don't add tahini like they do in the Middle East and yes we call it hummus) with felfel (yes spicy chili relish)

Chick pea puree drizzled with olive oil, lemon juice and sprinkled with spices.

Chick pea tagine (soup or stew) lots of variations on this

We make a well spiced chick pea puree as a filling for a type of flat bread

Whole chick peas dressed with, olive oil, lemon juice, spices ( yes you can hot peppers)

It's added to an endless of other dishes. It just rolls into everything. I can post recipes later.

Also, the chick pea is thought to have originated in the Middle East. As for Mediterranean preparations on the European side, there are almost exact versions on the African side of the Med. Of course we were doing it first. I'm joking, I like to have fun with statements like that, but I'm probably not off with that one though.

[Wolfert]

Great list.

I would like to add chickpea leavened bread and the rusk called kaak made in the Middle East. A brilliant use of over-soaked, fermenting garbanzo beans!

Just for the record: in Morocco, humus without tahini is called serrouda.

Edited March 18, 2005 by Wolfert (log)

[hazardnc]

Tuscan Chick Pea Soup

Chick pea snack. Whole Roasted chick peas that are spiced before serving.

Chick pea pie.

Chick pea fries or fritters

Chick pea puree (hummus, we don't add tahini like they do in the Middle East and yes we call it hummus) with felfel (yes spicy chili relish)

Chick pea puree drizzled with olive oil, lemon juice and sprinkled with spices.

Chick pea tagine (soup or stew) lots of variations on this

We make a well spiced chick pea puree as a filling for a type of flat bread

Whole chick peas dressed with, olive oil, lemon  juice, spices ( yes you can hot peppers)

It's added to an endless of other dishes. It just rolls into everything. I can post recipes later.

Also, the chick pea is thought to have originated in the Middle East. As for Mediterranean preparations on the European side, there are almost exact versions on the African side of the Med. Of course we were doing it first.  I'm joking, I like to have fun with statements like that, but I'm probably not off with that one though.

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Chefzadi, you named many of my favorites. May I add:

the Indian dish, channa masala - I could live on this and rice with some green salad.

Another favorite is the Moroccan lamb/lentil/chickpea soup harrira. I make this whenever I have leftover lamb.

I also had a fantastic Tuscan chick pea soup at a restaurant in Sienna called OSTERIA CASTELVECCHIO . This was a fabulous soup that I have craved since. The closest recipe I could find is this vegetarian version Tuscan chick pea soup. Though the ingredients are humble, the flavor is very good with a bit of doctoring. If my Italian was better, I would write the chef and ask for the recipe.

Lastly, my family had an incredible dish of chick peas with chorizo at Le Zouave, a tapas restaurant in Collioure, France. It was rich with garlic and so fabulous we had to order another serving. I have yet to succeed in replicating that dish.

One chick pea dish I have longed to try - and never get around to trying - is the Provencal snack food called socca. This is, for lack of a better definition, a chick pea crepe. I have seen versions drizzled with olive oil and sprinkled with rosemary - it looks delicious.

Click here to see one

Admin: edited for copyright/fair use compliance.

[chefzadi]

One chick pea dish I have longed to try - and never get around to trying - is the Provencal snack food called socca. This is, for lack of a better definition, a chick pea crepe. I have seen versions drizzled with olive oil and sprinkled with rosemary - it looks delicious.

I think socca is North African in origin. We have a version as well. I see it as more of something you will see in the coastal regions, a little thicker too.

Edited March 18, 2005 by chefzadi (log)

[hazardnc]

I wouldn't doubt that - no idea when socca appeared in Nice.

[Pan]

[...]

One chick pea dish I have longed to try - and never get around to trying - is the Provencal snack food called socca.  This is, for lack of a better definition, a chick pea crepe.  I have seen versions drizzled with olive oil and sprinkled with rosemary - it looks delicious.[...]

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Try it before you jump to conclusions.

I tried Socca at the most famous Socca place in Vieux Nice and found it totally underwhelming. I also didn't think much of pissaladiere, and I otherwise thought Nicois cuisine was terrific!

[chefzadi]

[...]

One chick pea dish I have longed to try - and never get around to trying - is the Provencal snack food called socca.  This is, for lack of a better definition, a chick pea crepe.  I have seen versions drizzled with olive oil and sprinkled with rosemary - it looks delicious.[...]

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Try it before you jump to conclusions.

I tried Socca at the most famous Socca place in Vieux Nice and found it totally underwhelming. I also didn't think much of pissaladiere, and I otherwise thought Nicois cuisine was terrific!

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They make a mean salade, from what I hear.

[Pan]

Try it before you jump to conclusions.

I tried Socca at the most famous Socca place in Vieux Nice and found it totally underwhelming. I also didn't think much of pissaladiere, and I otherwise thought Nicois cuisine was terrific!

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They make a mean salade, from what I hear.

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Yep, and great soupe de poisson.

[mizducky]

Another one of my mother's culinary tales from when she was a girl growing up in the Jewish ghetto of New York City's Lower East Side in the 1930s: buying paper cones of chickpeas from street vendors. When I was a child, she and I would often share a snack of chickpeas--alas, from a can in the kitchen, not from a paper cone bought on a street corner--simply seasoned with ground pepper.

A lot of legumes I can take or leave, but chickpeas are one of the few I adore (the others are lentils and split peas). Most often, I have them as a snack the way my mother taught me, but I also love hummus (with the tahini, and *lots* of garlic), and felafel. Heck, I like 'em in just about anything--curries, soups, whatever, bring 'em on. I will use the canned ones for expediency, but I really like dried chickpeas cooked by pressure-cooker--somehow it intensifies their innate sweetness.

[Carlovski]

I do eat a lot of chickpeas.

I like to make a simple chickpea mash to go with stews - great for soacking up juices.

A similar recipe but with some spicing garlic and a good slick of evoo served with plenty of toasted pitta is a regular lunchtime snack (Lemon juice helps too)

I believe that hummus doesn't contain tahini - hummus bi tahini is a different dish.

Handy hint - if you want the tahini flavour but don't have any to hand (As I rarely do) a drizzle of sesame oil gives a similar taste (And I do usually have that!)

[Wolfert]

Just to make sure we are all on the same page: Chickpea flour which used to be cheaper than white flour made from wheat is used to make socca in Nice and farinata in Genoa.

In fact, in every Mediterranean coastal town there is a grainy snack food made with the flour.

Tunis: fenugreek flavored butter cookies called ghoriba homs

Tangier: cumin flavoerd, egg based pudding called karantika

Gibraltar: ditto

Israel: falafal

Antalya, Turkey: Hibes (a type of hummus made with the flour and tahini)

Palermo: panelle

Cadiz: Tortillitas

Please feel free to add to the list. I'm looking for more references

Edited March 18, 2005 by Wolfert (log)

[andiesenji]

I have made this chickpea cake several times.

I came across the recipe when searching for a recipe for bean pie a few years ago.

I have made a couple of minor modifications to the recipe on a couple of occasions, trying some different flavorings, spices, etc., but the basic recipe is very good.

[andiesenji]

This Australian website Food Down Under has a lot of recipes for chickpeas and other pulse.

Is one of my favorite places to search for new recipes to try.

If you go to home page, you will see that they have quite a few categories from all over the world.

I have found quite a few interesting and unusual recipes in several different categories, especiall the pastries. I learned many years ago, when I had a visitor from Australia, that in Oz there is a tremendous love of desserts, especially pastries.

[zeitoun]

Besides the regular homous bil tahine, many variations are also possible. Some people like to add spiced ground meat on top of homous and eat it with arabic bread.

I normaly judge the quality of a middle eastern restaurant by the quality of their homous bil tahine, it doesn't involve complicated ingredients but is all about balance between chickpeas, tahini and lemon (which if you are really fussy about is not always easy to achieve ). In many homes, people will like to add their little touch to this classic dish to make it a little different, I have seen people add orange juice to it, I like to add a little yogurt to make it creamy.

I also love dried chickpeas as snacks which is very common in some parts of the middle east. They can be prepared in many different ways and this website (click on the chickpeas section) gives a good idea of what is available.

[reuvens]

my dinner yesterday...........

simple, tasty and all i need to be a happy man,

vue

[boaziko]

Vue,

WHERE WAS THAT?

Boaziko

[reuvens]

Vue,

WHERE WAS THAT?

Boaziko

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Hi Boaz,

It is a little place in Zichron Yaakov called

"YOSKO"

But far away from the quality of the Humus Place I´ve been in Yaffo last October.!

Vue

[FoodMan]

This looks excellent! Is that an egg? Is it hard cooked? I'm just wondering about the odd color it has.

Elie

[chefzadi]

The color reminds me of the slow cooked eggs, there are different versions around the world. But I think in some places it's done by putting eggs into the ashes of a dying fire and leaving them to cook overnight. I've never tried eggs prepared this way. Although I've have slow cooked eggs prepared differently. Or maybe the eggs in the photo are pickled?

Isn't some sort of slow cooked egg part of a traditional meal for a Jewish holiday? Amongst Jews from certain regions perhaps?

[boaziko]

The color reminds me of the slow cooked eggs, there are different versions around the world. But I think in some places it's done by putting eggs into the ashes of a dying fire and leaving them to cook overnight. I've never tried eggs prepared this way. Although I've have slow cooked eggs prepared differently. Or maybe the eggs in the photo are pickled?

Isn't some sort of slow cooked egg part of a traditional meal for a Jewish holiday? Amongst Jews from certain regions perhaps?

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Indeed it is (usualy) slow.

I do it with the outer skin of all kinds of onions and sometime also with a teabag. (I keep onion peels in the freezer especialy for that exact use) in case i don't have enogh hanging around...

The Jewish slow cooked treditional dish has lots of names, one of many is Hamin.

Boaziko

[zeitoun]

Or maybe the eggs in the photo are pickled?

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Can eggs be pickled? I'd like to try that...

Vue - this dish looks really good.

[andiesenji]

Pickled eggs are very good. You used to see them in neighborhood bars, in large glass jars. The markets where I live carry them in jars in the deli section, usually right next to the "fresh" horseradish. All I can recall is that there is a man's name in the brand name.

I have several recipes on my computer at home. I am at the office today so won't have access to the recipes until this evening.

I use the recipe in Joy of Pickling as it is easier than my old one.

I came across one on the 'net a couple of years ago, tried it, liked it but lost it.

It had a distinct mustard flavor which was very, very good, (I love mustard) a sweet/sour flavor that was just right.

At that time I was using Netscape instead of IE and the search engine was different. I purged all my Netscape bookmarks and lost the web site URL. Darn!