The three-year-old’s eyes lit up upon learning of the task at hand. We had fresh chickpeas, and we were going to shell them. The process was much more meditative than simply dumping them from a can. I sat and shelled, my mind pleasantly empty, while the three-year-old helped the little babies “nibble their way out.” Most were singletons, though we found several "twins." We cooked them (by boiling for a few minutes, then draining, and adding salt, olive oil, lemon juice and crumbled feta), and we ate them.
The three-year-old brought the chickpeas to share with her sister after school. Running toward the little group, she cried, “Look! We made green chickpeas!” The girls stopped and gave a cursory look. Then one declared with utter certainty, “Those are disgusting!” There was a chorus of agreement as they ran off to play, the matter instantly forgotten. The crestfallen three-year-old walked back to me, handed me the dish, and joined them.
Fresh chickpeas have the nutty flavor of cooked dried chickpeas, but are also sweet, a bit like peas or edamame. You can use them as you would regular chickpeas. I think a fresh chickpea hummus would be really nice. But I also like to make a simple chickpea salad, as described above. Just toss cooked chickpeas with olive oil, salt, lemon juice, and feta. If I don't have lemon juice, I use red wine vinegar. Sometimes I add a little finely chopped red onion (make sure it's really very little). I almost never see fresh chickpeas anywhere, but if you ever find any, snap them up. They are a real treat – just be careful to whom you offer them.
Update: This recipe has been entered in this month's "No Croutons Required" contest. Thanks for the suggestion, Lisa!
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6 comments:
Thanks for dropping by my blog. I love chickpeas but have never had the fresh variety. A real treat I am sure.
You should consider submitting this to No Croutons Required - a monthly food event that I co-host with my friend Jacqueline. The theme this month is chickpeas. Details can be found here.
Thanks for stopping by mine, too. And thanks for the invite!
I came across from NCR - I've never had fresh chickpeas, but I'd love to try them, and your recipe sounds yummy :)
Thanks for stopping by. I do like them -- they taste like the usual dried chickpeas, but well, more fresh. I went with a simple preparation because I really just wanted to taste the chickpeas.
What a fantastic snack.
You are indeed lucky to have found green chick peas. I thought the white speckles were grated coconut.
How we usually cook them (Indian style)
a bit of oil season with mustard, cumin, curry leaves, broken red chilies and add cooked peas, in the end add grated fresh coconut. Yes lime juice will be a great addition. Called sundal in my parts.
I will hope to find some more green chickpeas so I can make them Indian style. I'm sure they'd be delicious. I do make quite a bit of south Indian food, but haven't done a post on it in awhile. I'll have to remedy that!
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