Often times I’ll get an urge to clean and when I do, I literally clean everything, starting from the washrooms, bedrooms and kitchen all the way down to the banisters and baseboards. Even the appliances that aren’t used very often can’t seem to get away from me. Everything needs to be at a certain level of shininess before I succumb to exhaustion.
Just the other week I started this crazy cleaning ritual of mine bright and early in the day, but then got side tracked. How? Well I started rumbling around the pantry, organizing the different items and boxes in there when I came upon an unopened can of chick peas (see this is why you should always clean the kitchen last when you’re a foodie with a short attention span) and realized that I had a sudden urge to eat them.
I put down the vacuum and started to think about garlicky hummus with pita or a warm chick pea salad. That’s when I realized that I haven’t ever tried making roasted chick peas before. It’s been something that I’ve been meaning to do since I love salty crunchy snacks (chips, corn nuts, list goes on). This would be a much healthier version because I’m going to be roasting them myself and can control what I wanted to put on them. Starting with a healthy ingredient like chickpeas doesn’t hurt either.
Nutritional Tidbit: Chickpeas aka Garbanzo beans has very high fiber content. Two cups of these delicious legumes provides the total daily value of fiber required in a regular diet. Two cups might seem like a lot, but if you use chickpeas as a dip, spread and roasted snack, it can all add up pretty quickly. Fiber is important because it keeps us full longer and also prevents the spiking of insulin, which helps control hunger and satiety signals from the brain.
As my poor cleaning supplies were now left neglected in the far corner of my house, I started to pull out all the different ingredients needed for the recipe. Lucky for me, it really didn’t take too long to pull everything together and before I knew it I was back to cleaning as my chickpeas were roasting away in the oven. Although I did get sidetracked for a bit, I did end up getting back to the cleaning fairly soon. The best part was I also had something to munch on while I was doing it!
Adapted from here
Ingredients:1 can Chickpeas
1 tbsp Cajun spice (recipe below) I used more spice then the original recipe because I enjoy more flavour on the chickpeas
1 tbsp Brown sugar
Olive or canola oil
Preparation:Preheat the oven to 450ºF.
Open the chickpeas and rinse in a colander. .Drain all the liquid from the chickpeas and dry them with paper towels. Getting them as dry as possible, which will create a better crunch once they’re roasted.
Once the chickepeas are dry, spread them over a flat sheet pan. Drizzle on the olive or canola oil. Make sure each chickpea is lightly coated then sprinkle the Cajun spice or any other spices you’d like to try (I think next time I’d like to try Chinese five spice) and brown sugar over top.
Respread the chickpeas so there is only one layer of them on the sheet pan.
Place the pan in the oven for 20-30 mins. Make sure to keep an eye on them nearing the end of the 30 mins since they can quickly brown. If you like them a little more crunchy then leave them in the oven for an extra 5-10 mins.
Makes about 1½ cups.
Cajun Spice Mix:2 tsp salt
1 tsp garlic powder
1 tsp paprika
1 tsp dried oregano
1 tsp dried thyme
1 tsp cumin
1/2 tsp ground black pepper
1/2 tsp onion powder
1/2 tsp cayenne pepper (I add a bit more than that since I enjoy the mix a bit spicier)
1/2 tsp chili powder
1/4 tsp ground mustard
Mix all the above in a jar. Keep it sealed and you can put it on anything from fish, poultry to chickpeas!
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