The chickpea or garbanzo bean is an annual legume of the
family Fabaceae, subfamily Faboideae. Chickpea
seeds are high in protein. It is one of the earliest cultivated legumes, and
7500-year-old remains have been found in the Middle East. Chickpeas are a key
ingredient in hummus and chana masala, and it can be ground into flour to make
falafel. It is also used in salads, soups and stews, curry and other meal
products like channa. The chickpea is important in Indian and Middle Eastern
cuisine, and in 2016, India produced 64% of the world's total chickpeas.
Mature chickpeas can be cooked and eaten cold in salads,
cooked in stews, ground into flour, ground and shaped in balls and fried as
falafel, made into a batter and baked to make farinata or cecina, or fried to
make panelle. Chickpea flour is known as gram flour or besan in South Asia and
used frequently in South Asian cuisine.
Ḥummuṣ is the Arabic word for chickpeas, which are often
cooked and ground into a paste and mixed with ṭaḥīna (sesame seed paste), the
blend called ḥummuṣ bi ṭaḥīna. Chickpeas are roasted, spiced, and eaten as a
snack, sometimes called "leblebi".
Chickpeas are used to make curries and are one of the most
popular vegetarian foods in South Asia countries served with variety of breads
or steamed rice.
This particular legume is probably one of my favorite foods
currently.
PipeTobacco
I like a chick pea salad. Coffee is on
ReplyDeleteWe put chickpeas on our salads. We regularly eat hummus and occasionally make a great salad dressing out of tahini with lemon juice and garlic.
ReplyDeletethe Ol'Buzzard
chick peas are not for this chick
ReplyDeleteGreat information on one of my favorites as well and it has recently been included in bean salads.
ReplyDelete