Ask MetaFilter questions tagged with chickpeas

Cold nights, warm lentils, yes please!

anderjen — Tue, 10 Nov 2009 11:45:59 -0800

While visiting San Antonio last month, I ate at Liberty Bar on Metafilter's recommendation and fell deeply in love with their warm lentil salad. I would love to recreate it at home for a fantastic winter dinner. Please help me do so. The dish was very simple, ingredients-wise, but I need some assistance in figuring out what spices/seasonings to add, and in what order I should cook/assemble everything. I'm pretty sure I tasted cumin, but have no idea what else might have been in it. The menu describes it as "sautéed lentils with spinach, bacon, onion, and garlic."

It doesn't have to be an exact replica of the salad I had; I'm sure anything with the above ingredients would be delicious if you have other ideas on how I might put them to work.

Bonus question: I really wanted to try the warm chickpea salad as well, but could not persuade my dining companion to order it. It's listed as "sautéed chickpeas, carrot, celery, garlic, onion, spinach, and feta cheese." Any idea what spices I could use to recreate this?

Thanks for your help!

what was wrong with my hummus

fishtacos — Sat, 25 Jul 2009 16:07:55 -0800

my trader joe's hummus had flakes of something or other in it, which I've never seen before. what could this be? so I just opened up a new container of trader joe's hummus (the plain organic variety, with the green lid), and something about it seemed off. it was almost flavorless, little to no aroma, and more coarse and dry than I remember. after eating some I noticed some very small whitish, translucent flakes that I first thought were flakes of bread, but upon closer inspection were in the hummus. they sort of looked like bits of onion or garlic skin, but a bit thicker. don't recall ever noticing this in TJ's hummus before, so I stopped eating it. can anyone ID this foreign substance? on a whim I googled "chickpea skin" and found this page. I never knew chickpeas had skins, so I'm wondering if the flakes were bits of chickpea skin and maybe my hummus was from a batch that wasn't fully processed (also explaining the coarser texture and specks of solid chickpea).

sorry if this question too trivial to post, but after some googling I found this question about TJ's hummus and sort of freaked out about contamination (my hummus didn't explode though). I called the store and they offered a refund, but hadn't received any similar comments about it.

Candied chickpeas in the Bay Area?

rafter — Mon, 14 Apr 2008 22:49:13 -0800

Where to get candied chickpeas in the San Francisco Bay Area? Some time ago I was completely blown away by some sugared/candied chickpeas which (I'm told) had been purchased at a Middle-Eastern market in New York. They're pastel and sugar coated a la Jordan Almonds and are just as delicious without breaking your teeth. I've been in and out of a few Middle-Eastern places around town without luck, and the only brick-and-mortar store I can find on Google or Yelp is in Boston. (For what it's worth, there are a few places that seem to sell them online but they all seem to be kind of sketchy and/or overseas. And I'd love to be able to walk in to a local shop to pick some up.)

What are your favorite recipes for chickpeas/garbanzo beans?

vorfeed — Tue, 27 Sep 2005 14:05:31 -0800

What are your favorite recipes for chickpeas/garbanzo beans? Chickpeas/garbanzos are a major staple of mine. I usually eat them curried, as hummus, or in a salad with some greens, but I'm getting a bit tired of those. Do you have any other serving suggestions? I'd prefer vegetarian recipes, but please don't hesitate to post recipes with meat ingredients as well.