experiencelifemag.com Print › | Back › Chickpeas These mild, nutty-flavored legumes offer heart-healthy nutrients and a powerful protein punch. By Cary Neff March 2009 Food Basics Nutritional Know-How Eat Up! Kitchen Tricks Chickpeas might be best known as the blond beans at the end of the salad bar. But they’re also the main ingredient in hummus, and they have even been grown as a coffee substitute. No matter how you eat them, adding this versatile bean to your diet will give your body a rich variety of nutrients. Food Basics Chickpeas (also known as garbanzo beans) are part of the legume family and have been grown in the Mediterranean, India and western Asia for more than 7,500 years. A popular ingredient in Middle Eastern and Indian cooking, they have a firm, buttery texture and a mild, nutty taste. There are two general types in cultivation: Wild chickpeas, or desi, are small, dark and have a tough seed coat; the more common kabuli are round, irregular-shaped and cream-colored. A few stores carry fresh chickpeas, but you’re most likely to find them canned or dried. There is very little difference in nutritional value between precooked canned chickpeas and the dried variety you cook yourself.   Nutritional Know-How A 1-cup serving of chickpeas provides nearly all the recommended daily folate and magnesium necessary to support heart health. Chickpeas also are high in fiber. Soluble fiber helps stabilize blood-sugar levels and whisks the cholesterol trapped in bile out of the digestive system. Insoluble fiber helps prevent constipation and conditions like diverticulosis. When combined with brown rice or other whole grains, chickpeas provide a complete protein comparable to meat or dairy. These legumes also provide the body with molybdenum (which helps detoxify), manganese (necessary for fighting free radicals) and iron. Eat Up! Purée chickpeas with olive oil, fresh garlic, tahini (sesame seed paste) and lemon juice to make hummus, which you can serve with pita, vegetables or as a sandwich spread to accompany meats, vegetables or fish. For a crunchy, flavorful snack, season chickpeas with olive oil, salt and pepper, toss with rosemary and balsamic vinegar, then roast at 200 degrees F for 45 minutes. Stir, then roast for another 15 minutes. Add chickpeas to vegetable soups to enhance flavor and protein content. Sauté chickpeas in olive oil with garlic, then combine with spinach, tomatoes, feta and quinoa pasta for a fast, delicious and nutritionally balanced meal.  Chickpea (garbanzo) flour makes a flavorful, light and nutritious whole-grain alternative to wheat flour in pancakes, fritters, crackers and polenta. Kitchen Tricks Before soaking dried chickpeas, spread them out on a plate or baking sheet to remove any debris. Then place the beans in a strainer and rinse thoroughly under cool running water. Before cooking, cover dried beans with cool water (about 3 cups water for every cup of beans), place in refrigerator and soak for at least eight hours. To cook the beans after soaking, drain, rinse and cover with fresh water, vegetable stock or chicken stock. Bring contents to a boil, reduce heat to low and simmer for 60 to 90 minutes until tender. Skim off any skin or foam that forms on the surface. Avoid using salt or other acidic seasonings when cooking chickpeas, since they will cause the beans to toughen and increase cooking time. Season with desired spices only after beans are fully cooked. Chef Cary Neff is the president of the consulting firm Culinary Innovations and the author of the New York Times bestseller Conscious Cuisine (Sourcebooks, 2002). For details on how to prepare Hummus, Falafel-Baked Chickpea Cake, Chickpea Napoleons With Pan-Roasted Vegetables and more, check out the Web Extras! at the top right of this page.

Chickpeas

These mild, nutty-flavored legumes offer heart-healthy nutrients and a powerful protein punch.

Food Basics
Nutritional Know-How
Eat Up!
Kitchen Tricks

Chickpeas might be best known as the blond beans at the end of the salad bar. But they’re also the main ingredient in hummus, and they have even been grown as a coffee substitute. No matter how you eat them, adding this versatile bean to your diet will give your body a rich variety of nutrients.

Food Basics (Back to Top)
Chickpeas (also known as garbanzo beans) are part of the legume family and have been grown in the Mediterranean, India and western Asia for more than 7,500 years. A popular ingredient in Middle Eastern and Indian cooking, they have a firm, buttery texture and a mild, nutty taste. There are two general types in cultivation: Wild chickpeas, or desi, are small, dark and have a tough seed coat; the more common kabuli are round, irregular-shaped and cream-colored. A few stores carry fresh chickpeas, but you’re most likely to find them canned or dried. There is very little difference in nutritional value between precooked canned chickpeas and the dried variety you cook yourself.  

Nutritional Know-How (Back to Top)
A 1-cup serving of chickpeas provides nearly all the recommended daily folate and magnesium necessary to support heart health. Chickpeas also are high in fiber. Soluble fiber helps stabilize blood-sugar levels and whisks the cholesterol trapped in bile out of the digestive system. Insoluble fiber helps prevent constipation and conditions like diverticulosis. When combined with brown rice or other whole grains, chickpeas provide a complete protein comparable to meat or dairy. These legumes also provide the body with molybdenum (which helps detoxify), manganese (necessary for fighting free radicals) and iron.

Eat Up! (Back to Top)

• Purée chickpeas with olive oil, fresh garlic, tahini (sesame seed paste) and lemon juice to make hummus, which you can serve with pita, vegetables or as a sandwich spread to accompany meats, vegetables or fish.
• For a crunchy, flavorful snack, season chickpeas with olive oil, salt and pepper, toss with rosemary and balsamic vinegar, then roast at 200 degrees F for 45 minutes. Stir, then roast for another 15 minutes.
• Add chickpeas to vegetable soups to enhance flavor and protein content.
• Sauté chickpeas in olive oil with garlic, then combine with spinach, tomatoes, feta and quinoa pasta for a fast, delicious and nutritionally balanced meal. 
• Chickpea (garbanzo) flour makes a flavorful, light and nutritious whole-grain alternative to wheat flour in pancakes, fritters, crackers and polenta.

Kitchen Tricks (Back to Top)

• Before soaking dried chickpeas, spread them out on a plate or baking sheet to remove any debris. Then place the beans in a strainer and rinse thoroughly under cool running water.
• Before cooking, cover dried beans with cool water (about 3 cups water for every cup of beans), place in refrigerator and soak for at least eight hours.
• To cook the beans after soaking, drain, rinse and cover with fresh water, vegetable stock or chicken stock. Bring contents to a boil, reduce heat to low and simmer for 60 to 90 minutes until tender. Skim off any skin or foam that forms on the surface.
• Avoid using salt or other acidic seasonings when cooking chickpeas, since they will cause the beans to toughen and increase cooking time. Season with desired spices only after beans are fully cooked.

Chef Cary Neff is the president of the consulting firm Culinary Innovations and the author of the New York Times bestseller Conscious Cuisine (Sourcebooks, 2002).

For details on how to prepare Hummus, Falafel-Baked Chickpea Cake, Chickpea Napoleons With Pan-Roasted Vegetables and more, check out the Web Extras! at the top right of this page.

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