chickpeas - recipes please

1

1stimemum

Registered User
hi mums, i bought a can of organic chick peas last week, seemed like a good idea. I'm trying to give my 14mth old more variety and thought chickpeas were a good source of protein but I'm stumped. Never cooked it before so totally clueless...

searched annebelkarmel's website but nothing came up.

any ideas or links i can turn to?

thanks mums.:agree:
 
You can make hummus with chickpeas but I don't know all the ingredients. You could try giving them to her plain. It took a couple of attempts, but my daughter will eat them plain now. A good website for recipes is: allrecipes.com
you can list ingrediants that you want and it will search for recipes. Good luck :)
 
thanks mums. Checking out all the recipes on the sites, will post how it goes! i have a feeling an awful lot is going to end up on the floor though, he's not patient with food.
 
I put chickpeas in minestrone. Have been doing so since my toddler was 1 and she still loves it. Lots of chopped up vegetables - carrot, celery, zucchini, onions, sliced bacon (optional), pasta, chickpeas in vegetable stock. Excellent for cold days. Instead of the tinned variety, I get the dried chickpeas from Indian shops. Soak them overnight and then cook them in the pressure cooker - quicker than boiling them up. Even those just cooked that way are excellent & nutricious snacks. My helper had lots of curious questions from Hongkongers and their helpers when my baby was snacking on chick peas - "What's that??"
 
Chickpeas is cooked with rice or can be made in a curry or can be put in salad which is called chaat in indian/pakistani cuisine.Chaat is yogurt+tomatoes+onions+boiled potatoes+chickpeas and some salt and pepper.its yummy
 
samali, do you have to mash the chickpeas in the Chaat recipe or its mixed in whole? little one likes yogurt and this sounds interesting.

lisa88 and samali, i dont have a pressure cooker but if i do ever buy dried chickpeas (much cheaper than the canned) can just boiling it in water to the trick?
 
Chickpea and tomato curry is really good and is a great store cupboard standby if you use canned chickpeas and a can of chopped tomatoes.
For hummus you just blend chickpeas with garlic, lemon, tahini, olive oil and salt and pepper. You can vary by adding some roasted red pepper or caramelised onion.

Dried chickpeas give a better texture than canned. Soak overnight then change the water and fast boil for 10 mins then reduce the heat and simmer until they're done (cooking time depends on the age/size of the dried peas). Don't put any salt in with the water because it will toughen them. Whilst they're cooking you can skim off any scum that appears on the top.
 
Chickpeas are widely used in Indian and Middle Eastern dishes. Your best bet is to search recipe books and online websites offering that style of food for ideas. Besides chickpeas, there are different types of lentils and beans that are very cheap, tasty and nutritious that you can try. I usually get the dried beans and lentils as they are very cheap. The tinned variety is more expensive. Boiling them in a heavy pot is fine but can take 1-2 hours, so I like my pressure cooker. As long as the dishes are not heavily spiced, babies and toddlers can have them. It also exposes them to different tastes/cuisines and makes them more open to trying world cuisine!
 
Agree with Lisa88; my kids love lentils and i have found even when they are going through an anti vege stage they will always eat veg and lentil soup or one of our great winter standbys, vegetarian shepherds pie, using lentils rather than mince. Can use green or red but the green stay whole and give a more solid consistency. I will add in whatever veges we have to hand, but usually celery, onion, carrot, mushrooms and tomatoes as a minimum. Great for the whole family, super tasty and cheap. Can use sweet potato as an alternative topping to potato for a change.
They both also like chick peas and agree they can be a great snack for them.
 
1stimemum said:
samali, do you have to mash the chickpeas in the Chaat recipe or its mixed in whole? little one likes yogurt and this sounds interesting.

lisa88 and samali, i dont have a pressure cooker but if i do ever buy dried chickpeas (much cheaper than the canned) can just boiling it in water to the trick?
Click to expand...

1stimemum, yes you can crush the chickpeas abnd to yogurt.
As cherina said you have to soak chickpeas in water overnight then boil untill soft.
 
wow so many great ideas and frankly as i've never been much exposed to chickpeas in my regular food diet, this is an eye opener. I made hummus today (it was the easiest start and i figured the soft text would be easier for him to take in)

it was good, he ate it and didnt seem to have an taste aversions but he likes crispy textures (toast, biscuits) so i definitely had to do a lot of the normal coaxing.

i love the idea of stews and will definitely try it next week!
 
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