Published: October 02, 2006 04:07 pm      

A chickpea by any other name...

By Marialisa Calta

Call them chickpeas, garbanzos, cece beans or channa - just don't call them anything but delicious. Chickpeas are the basis of some of the most popular dishes in the Middle East and India, and they make grand appearances in Italian and Spanish cuisines as well. They have a long, illustrious history and can star at any meal.

Look closely at a chickpea -- the round bean with the curled sides -- and you will see how it could have been likened to a ram's head, hence the botanical name "arietinum" ("aries" -- as followers of astrology know -- meaning "ram").

Chickpeas are almost always sold dried or canned; but Patience Gray, in the wonderful "Honey from a Weed" (Prospect Books, 1986), wrote of gathering them fresh in Italy in the spring, where they are a "short-lived delicacy." Their season is so short-lived, in fact, that "they are imagined, even by Italians, to be born brown and dry."

Chickpeas are high in soluble fiber, protein and folate, and make a wonderful quick meal. If using dried chickpeas, soak them overnight, drain, add fresh water and simmer for 1-1/2 hours. If using canned chickpeas, drain and rinse them well to remove the viscous packing liquid and reduce sodium. I frequently make several chickpea dishes that are not complicated enough to call for an actual recipe.

-- Salad: Mix a can of chickpeas, sliced scallions and fresh or roasted bell pepper, and drizzle with either Italian dressing or mustard oil, a sinus-clearing oil sold in Indian specialty shops.

-- Pasta sauce: Saute a can of chickpeas with olive oil, garlic, a dash of hot-pepper flakes and one package of chopped frozen (and thawed) spinach, and serve over linguine.

-- Hummus: Puree a can of chickpeas with some garlic, about 1/4 cup of tahini (sesame paste, sold in most supermarkets), and salt and lemon juice to taste. ("Hummus" is the Arabic word for chickpea, but it has come to mean the dip popular here.)

When it comes to actual recipes for chickpeas, the first one below comes from "The Middle Eastern Cookbook" by Maria Khalife (Interlink Publishing, 2006). If you have eaten the more common (in the United States, at any rate) eggplant-and-custard moussaka from Greece, this recipe, from Jordan, will be a fresh-tasting surprise. It is a cooked salad, like Italian eggplant caponata, and is served cold. The chickpea burgers come from EatingWell magazine's "Healthy in a Hurry Cookbook" (Countryman Press, 2006). They are a much lower-fat version of a Middle Eastern standard, falafel (deep-fried chickpea patties). The third recipe, for a hefty Indian chickpea stew, is from my neighbor, Donna Jerry.



COOKED EGGPLANT WITH CHICKPEAS



3 eggplants

salt to taste

1/2 cup olive oil

26 ounces (1 pound, 10 ounces) tomatoes

1 cup vegetable oil

12 small (boiling) onions, peeled but left whole, or 4 medium yellow onions, peeled and quartered

5 garlic cloves, peeled and crushed or minced

1 cup dry chickpeas, soaked and cooked (see text, above), or 2 (19-ounce) cans chickpeas, drained and rinsed

2 tablespoons tomato paste

2 cups water

ground white pepper to taste



Preheat the oven to 350 F. Line a platter with paper towels.

Stem the eggplants and peel them. Slice them lengthwise, and sprinkle with salt. Heat the olive oil in a frying pan and, working in batches, fry the slices until brown on both sides. Drain on the prepared platter. Wipe the frying pan clean.

Stem all of the tomatoes. Cut half of them into cubes and the other half into slices. Set aside.

Heat the vegetable oil in a frying pan and cook the onions and garlic over low heat until tender, stirring occasionally, 5 to 7 minutes. Add the cubed tomatoes and the chickpeas; raise the heat to medium, and cook, stirring occasionally, for 5 minutes.

Place the eggplant slices in an 11-by-13-inch baking dish. Remove the chickpea mixture from the skillet using a slotted spoon and place it on top of the eggplant. Top with the tomato slices.

Dissolve the tomato paste in the water and pour evenly over the baking dish. Sprinkle with salt and white pepper. Bake for 35 minutes. Cool, cover and refrigerate; serve cold with good bread.



Yield: 5 to 6 servings

Recipe from "The Middle Eastern Cookbook" by Maria Khalife (Interlink Publishing, 2006)



CHICKPEA BURGERS & TAHINI SAUCE



For the burgers:

1 (19-ounce) can chickpeas, drained and rinsed

4 scallions, trimmed and sliced

1 egg

2 tablespoons all-purpose flour

1 tablespoon chopped fresh oregano

1/2 teaspoon ground cumin

1/4 teaspoon salt

2 tablespoons extra-virgin olive oil



For the sauce:

1/2 cup low-fat plain yogurt

2 tablespoons tahini (sesame paste, sold in most supermarkets)

1 tablespoon lemon juice

1/3 cup chopped flat-leaf parsley

1/4 teaspoon salt



For serving:

2 6-inch whole-wheat pitas, halved and warmed



Make the burgers: Place all of the burger ingredients except the oil in a food processor. Pulse, stopping once or twice to scrape down the sides, until a coarse mixture forms. Press into 4 patties.

Heat the oil in a large, nonstick skillet set over medium-high heat. Add the patties and cook until golden and beginning to crisp, 4 to 5 minutes. Carefully flip and cook until golden brown, 2 to 4 minutes more.

Make the sauce: While the burgers are frying, combine the sauce ingredients in a bowl.

To serve: Insert a patty into a halved pita. Spoon the sauce into the pocket and serve.



Yield: 4 servings

Recipe from "Healthy in a Hurry Cookbook" by Jim Romanoff and the editors of EatingWell magazine (Countryman Press, 2006)



CHOLE (INDIAN CHICKPEA AND POTATO STEW)



4 medium potatoes, scrubbed, peeled (if desired) and cubed

2 tablespoons olive or canola oil

1/2 teaspoon cumin seeds

2 medium onions, peeled and grated

6 cloves garlic, peeled

2-inch piece fresh ginger root, peeled

1/2 teaspoon ground turmeric

1/2 teaspoon cayenne pepper

2 teaspoons ground coriander

salt to taste

2 medium tomatoes, stemmed and chopped

1 teaspoon garam masala (see note)

2 (19-ounce) cans chickpeas, drained and rinsed



For garnish:

chopped onions or scallions

chopped fresh green chilies

lemon slices

chopped fresh cilantro and/or mint



Note: Garam masala is a mixture of spices like pepper, cloves, cinnamon, cumin, bay leaves and coriander. You can buy it in many supermarkets or specialty stores, or omit it and add a pinch of ground black pepper, cloves and cinnamon.



Bring a pot of water to a boil and add the potatoes, cooking until tender. Drain, but reserve the cooking liquid. Set the potatoes aside.

Heat the oil in a large skillet. Add the cumin seeds and cook until fragrant, about 1 minute. Add the grated onion. Press the garlic through a garlic press into the skillet; do the same with the ginger. Add the turmeric, cayenne, coriander, salt, tomatoes and garam masala (see note) and stir. Add the potatoes and chickpeas and stir again. Add a bit of the reserved potato water -- just enough so the mixture isn't totally dry -- and cover and cook until heated through, at least 5 minutes.

Serve as is or with rice, garnished as desired.



Yield: 4 to 6 servings

Recipe from Donna Jerry, Calais, Vt.



Marialisa Calta is the author of "Barbarians at the Plate: Taming and Feeding the American Family" (Perigee, 2005). For more information, go to www.marialisacalta.com.