The "C" word, chickpeas, and a yummy recipe that did not fail
The longer I have chickens (the half dozen that reside in my back yard) the harder it is to write that ingredient in shopping lists or recipes. It feels very, very wrong, and I know it's only a matter of time before that white meat will disappear from the diet altogether.
But it hasn't, not just yet, and the other night I did a rare culinary creation of some magnificence. Essentially it was this:
Stir Fry (with vegetables and the "c word) and Chick Peas (or Gabanzo Beans)
I stir fried the "c" word with vegetables - we had broccoli, carrot, red onion and I added in some frozen vegetables as well - some green beans, and the diced corn, carrot and pea mixture you get.
Next, I mixed it all up with fairly decent amounts of lemon juice, salt and pepper.
The second bit was the chickpeas. I'd seen for a while how you can roast chickpeas in the oven to make a snack, kind of in lieu of nuts I guess. You just take the canned, drained, rinsed chickpeas (I used two cans, just of basic, cheap ones) and coat them in spices (I used paprika and cumin; am not a fan of too much heat), and you then roast (I used a few splatters of oil) for half an hour or so around 200 degrees.
So, I thought, why not do the chickpeas as a side dish for the stirfry, instead of rice or noodles or pasta?
And so I did, and honestly? It was pretty good. There was a nice lemon flavour to the stirfry, and that
lemony goodness provided some of the "sauce", if you like, otherwise it would have been pretty dry. But the real flavour was with the chickpeas and best of all? It wasn't carb-tastic. The chick peas did well in place of pasta or rice or noodles.
If you don't eat meat, tofu would go well in place of the "c" word. Way cheaper, too, and actually, I would suggest, the whole thing is possibly even good for you.
Give it a try and if you do, let me know how it goes.
I may do a tofu next week and report back.
But it hasn't, not just yet, and the other night I did a rare culinary creation of some magnificence. Essentially it was this:
Stir Fry (with vegetables and the "c word) and Chick Peas (or Gabanzo Beans)
 |
| Roasted Chickpeas - pretty tasty and good! |
Next, I mixed it all up with fairly decent amounts of lemon juice, salt and pepper.
The second bit was the chickpeas. I'd seen for a while how you can roast chickpeas in the oven to make a snack, kind of in lieu of nuts I guess. You just take the canned, drained, rinsed chickpeas (I used two cans, just of basic, cheap ones) and coat them in spices (I used paprika and cumin; am not a fan of too much heat), and you then roast (I used a few splatters of oil) for half an hour or so around 200 degrees.
So, I thought, why not do the chickpeas as a side dish for the stirfry, instead of rice or noodles or pasta?
And so I did, and honestly? It was pretty good. There was a nice lemon flavour to the stirfry, and that
lemony goodness provided some of the "sauce", if you like, otherwise it would have been pretty dry. But the real flavour was with the chickpeas and best of all? It wasn't carb-tastic. The chick peas did well in place of pasta or rice or noodles.
If you don't eat meat, tofu would go well in place of the "c" word. Way cheaper, too, and actually, I would suggest, the whole thing is possibly even good for you.
Give it a try and if you do, let me know how it goes.
I may do a tofu next week and report back.