I’ll admit right up front, I’m not sure I’m going to do this one again. Sure, these garbanzos are better than canned. But 12-hours-of-lead-time better? I’m not sure about that.
Maybe I’ll try some in soup. Hmm … time to go look up some recipes …
Oops, sorry, drifted off for a second there. So anyway, if you don’t mind starting on dinner before you’ve had breakfast, here’s how to do it.
Ingredients
bulk, dry garbanzo beans
Directions
If you grew up seeing chick peas on the salad bar, yes, we’re talking about the same thing. Well, probably. There are actually several related varieties of beans: Garbanzos (Spanish), Ceci (Italy), Chiche (France), Chana / Bengal Gram (India). See Clove Garden for pictures and descriptions of the difference. The ones I’m using here are the Kabul type.
If you’ve soaked beans before, you don’t have to actually measure things. But since this was my first time, I decided to follow the guidelines. So, one cup of beans.
Spread them out on a white or light colored plate. Sort through them to pick out any stoned, stems or discolored beans.
My batch was nice and clean, but did have this one funky one.
Put the beans in a bowl and add 2-1/2 to 3 cups of water.
Eight hours later, you can see that the beans have absorbed most of the water.
Transfer the beans to a pan over medium heat and bring to a boil. Lower the heat and simmer until the beans are no longer crunchy.
Mine took over an hour, but I may have had the heat too low.
Strain the beans in a colander and rinse with cold water.
These are not at all mushy, like canned garbanzos, and have a much stronger nutty flavor.
And that’s it.
