Tuesday, September 3, 2013

TV Tuesday

Roasted Chickpeas image by Flickr user trpnblies7
So, after two Monday prompts I'm finally back in line with the official prompts for Vegan Month of Food.

Apart from Bugs Bunny, I couldn't think of many vegan TV characters. I also had a bit of trouble thinking about a meal from my favourite TV show or movie. Although, every time I watch the opening credits for Louis I want pizza and not just any pizza, that floppy huge slice of goodness that we got at Wholefoods in Las Vegas. It had Daiya cheese on top and ... as you can see today is NOT one of my purer no-diary-surrogates days.

Thinking about which characters are vegan and which aren't did remind me of the day Toki realised not everyone is vegan. She was at preschool and her teacher was reading a book about a picnic and a bacon sandwich. 'Isn't it awful that people eat bacon?' Toki said, and her teacher said, 'I eat bacon.' And Toki just about lost her eyes. She'd met heaps of non-vegans, actually, the number of vegans she'd met by that stage could probably be counted on one hand but she just hadn't noticed. 'Pip,' she said to me after school. 'Do you know my teacher isn't vegan?' It was kind of cute and kind of sad.

I don't really have a TV meal. I love baked beans on toast. I love toast teehee. But I've been soaking chickpeas all day and it reminded me of one of my favourite snacks, which might be good for watching TV. We're having a friend over for tea. I don't know her very well and she's just moved here from Scotland. I'm always blimmin' nervous cooking for people for the first time. I think I'm going to marinate some vegetables and bake them and serve them with pasta. But, in a moment of performance anxiety this morning I threw some chickpeas in to soak. I remember reading Isa Chandra saying one time, 'Always be soaking.' It's not a bad motto for people who like pulses. Chickpeas freeze really well, so I've never regretted soaking and boiling big piles of them. Anyway, he's an idea.

ROAST CHICKPEAS

Soak some chickpeas (you'll probably need about a cup and half for this recipe) for 8-10 hours, overnight is best. Just throw them in a bowl and cover them in water so the water is, say, one and half times higher than the chickpeas, if that makes sense. In other words, heaps of water.

(I used to boil the chickpeas before I roasted them but they were always a but squishy, I found roasting them from soaked rather than boiled kept them crunchy.)

Drain them and place about a cup and a half of soaked chickpeas in a bowl (you can dry them off a bit with a tea towel, but you don't need to).

Heat the oven to about 175 degrees Celsius
Add about two tablespoons of olive oil and spices like smoked paprika, oregano, cumin, dill, chili, curry powder salt and pepper.
Add the soaked chickpeas and mix it all about a bit so all the chickpeas are coated in oil and herbs.
Place the coated chickpeas on a baking tray, try to make them one layer thick, they cook better that way.
Bake them for about 20-30 minutes, keep an eye on them, they will go a bit brown but watch they don't burn.
When they're done, let them cool and then eat them like nuts.

I just remembered how sprouted chickpeas make great hummus.  I'll try and remember to do a post on that. Chickpeas rock!


2 comments :

  1. Oops, I may have thrown out the leftover chickpeas last night. Darn it, I love them roasted. Sorry!
    Brent

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