Wednesday, February 13, 2008

Roasted Garbanzo Beans

I love finding a "new food", even if retrospectively I feel like the last person in the universe to "discover it"! :-) :-)

I recently started trying recipes from the book Vegan Lunch Box by Jennifer McCann. I saw her recipe for "Cheesy Roasted Chickpeas" and thought I would try it since it was new to me, sounded tasty, was quick and easy, and I already had some cooked garbanzo beans in my freezer. (I always cook up a whole bag of dried garbanzo beans and freeze them in 1 cup portions to have on hand to quickly make my own hummus.)

Now I see that there are recipes for oven-roasting garbanzo beans (chick peas is just another term for garbanzo beans) ALL OVER the internet! They are basically all the same technique, but I will always fondly remember this wonderful cookbook for introducing me to them.

Here is the game plan:
• 1-15 ounce can of garbanzo beans, drain and rinse (or use any amount of pre-cooked garbanzo beans, thawed if they were frozen like mine)
• 1 Tbsp. canola or olive oil
• 1-2 teaspoons seasonings to taste (choose anything like curry, Italian seasonings, nutritional yeast flakes, cayenne pepper)
• 1/4 teaspoon salt, or to taste (or omit)

• Toss all together in a medium bowl.
• Spread on a cookie sheet lined with parchment paper or non-stick spray.
• Roast for 30 minutes at 400 degree F, stirring once in a while until golden brown and just crispy.
• Cool and store in an airtight container.

These are SO good that it will be hard to not eat them all in one sitting. I do think the GI effects of doing so might be noticed, even in someone like me whose GI system has adjusted quite well to consuming beans or legumes on a daily basis. :-) :-)

One of my food and nutrition goals is to consume one serving of beans or legumes on a daily basis (~1/2 cup cooked, drained) as a very good source of protein, fiber, folate, magnesium, potassium, plus other vitamins, minerals, and health-promoting phytochemicals too numerous to count.

Toss a large handful into a salad like I did earlier this week or mix some into a salad like chicken salad (stretch that chicken with more beans) or even Waldorf salad. Or if you portion them out to maybe a 1/2 cup serving, enjoy them with some dried fruit for a tasty, filling, and healthy afternoon snack.

Ending with a succinct, indeed graceful, grace:

Bless our hearts
To hear in the
Breaking of bread
The song of the universe.
~~ Father John Giuliani

Diana Dyer, MS, RD

2 comments:

Anonymous said...

Thanks for the recipe! It sounds great. I have tried roasting veggies, but never thought of roasting garbanzo beans (so you weren't the last person to know about them).

Diana Dyer said...

Update!
I just recently figured out how to see the 'stats' for my blog and discovered that this recipe is one of the most popular on my blog!

Thus I was inspired to make two batches of these for the open house following my older son's wedding this past weekend, one batch seasoned with the Indian spice mixture Garam Marsala plus some garlic powder and the other batch seasoned simply with smoked sweet paprika. Yum, yum, yum!!

Diana