Fried Chickpeas ~ A Tasty Snack on a Cold, Rainy Day
It has been so dreary cold here lately. Soup like dal-rice combo has been my main meal most of the days. Worn-out of my routine tomato dal, I thought of dazzling it a bit. That started a craving for crispy, crunchy chickpeas. A cup of rehydrated chickpeas, 20 minutes in front of hot oil. Now, I remember why I don’t make these often.:) Next time I will simply buy or bake.
For those of you who would like to try the recipe, here we go:
Soak dried chickpeas in water to plump.
Drain and then pat them dry using a kitchen towel.
Deep-fry in batches, in hot peanut oil to crisp.
Prepare spice mixture: Heat a teaspoon of ghee. Add and toast curry leaves, chilli powder, amchur and salt to taste. Toss and coat the chickpeas in spice mixture.
The fried chickpeas are great to jazz up the dal and sambar rice. Also to munch on, and to add to salads.
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What’s This?
Nice Recipe. An easy way to do this is as follows and they comeup pretty nice.
1) Soak chickpeas as above
2) Coat the soaked chickpeas lightly ~2 tbps of oil
3) Spread them as a single layer in a baking tray and put them under the broiler for ~20 mins.
4) After the first 10 mins rotate the tray so that they brown evenly.
5) Add salt and amchur (and any other seasonings) immediately after removing from oven.
6) Serve immediately with a cold beer 🙂
I think I saw this recipe in one of Bitman’s books.
Comment by Kriore — November 20, 2007 @ 11:42 pm
Indira, please please please… tell me how to shoot those photos (camera, lens etc?)! If I salivate all over my PC it is because of those photos!
Comment by Chitra — November 21, 2007 @ 12:47 am
They look really crunchy…i just now boiled some chickpeas for make channa masala..next time i soak them, i will surely try this out
Comment by Simple Indian Food — November 21, 2007 @ 2:08 am
Straight off the frying pan. But tell me will they cook by frying, or do we boil them first?? Just a stupid question – if I may ask??
the pic looks tempting
Comment by Shella — November 21, 2007 @ 2:38 am
Well i would love to have them. I have bookmarked it, so for the next indian dinner party i cam make them for giving with the drinks, so atleast i won’t gobble up the whole lot. I will have to think about my guest :-))
Comment by Happy Cook — November 21, 2007 @ 6:21 am
Dreary fall weather is here too, Indira. I love the look of those crunchy chickpeas! Very neat link there, too 🙂
Comment by Linda — November 21, 2007 @ 6:22 am
Had snow fall here and i craved for having such things.. Will try this Indira. Do we need to pressure cook chickpeas after soaking in water?
Comment by anusriram — November 21, 2007 @ 7:34 am
This is very interesting, will be trying this out very soon.
Comment by bindiya — November 21, 2007 @ 10:01 am
I make a similar version of this, but instead of frying then seasoning them, I season them (and add ghee) and then roast them in 450 degree oven until crisp (about 20 minutes). I like the roasting method just because it makes me feel healthier and I don’t have to manage deep-frying oil.
(love your site, the recipes are all wonderful!)
Comment by George Schlossnagle — November 21, 2007 @ 2:11 pm
Indira,
I just saw “eenadu” telugu site and in the “vasundhara – arogyam” section, they have your picture of peanut chutney on it. I dont know if they have your permission …
I am regular reader of your website, I love your site and have succesfully tried many of your recipes. I recognised the pic as yours as I recently looked it up.
Please do check this link -http://www.eenadu.net/vasundhara.asp?qry=arogyam
Thanks,
Neelima
Comment by Neelima — November 21, 2007 @ 3:06 pm
hi
very nice recipe. I am a regular visitor to your website and food blog desam where u can have a detail of new posted recipes. But it is not working from yesterday, can u pls have a look, i tried emailing the virundh also but it is not connecting, pls do something for visitor like us missig it a lot
Hello Jyoth,
Thanks for your concern. I think the problem was due to server overload, but now FBD is working properly, please check it out.
– Indira
Comment by jyothi — November 21, 2007 @ 5:01 pm
Indira, I’m getting addicted your blog. Cool picture…I almost wanted to start preparing this right now. But, no chickpeas in my pantry 🙁 Man, I can’t tell how much of an inspiration you have become to me… thanks for that…
-Vani
Comment by Vani — November 21, 2007 @ 8:22 pm
Indira, chala bagundi ,chala oil soak chestaya. Pic chala bagundi,I wish I had a bowl full right now.
Comment by sreelu — November 21, 2007 @ 9:28 pm
Indira, thanks for a crispy-crunchy treat. I am quite a fan of crunchy stuff at meal time 😀 the snaps are amazing!
Comment by Ashu — November 22, 2007 @ 12:24 am
yummmm…these were my most favorite snacks. thanks a lot for the recipe!
Comment by Nirmala — November 22, 2007 @ 3:41 am
cool recipe! made them this morning….hubby & tot devoured them…thanx for sharing.
Comment by swaroopa — November 22, 2007 @ 11:52 am
Thank you for the recipe suggestions and for your good words on this recipe. Wishing you all a happy Thanksgiving day and pleasant weekend!
Chitra: I use Nikon D 70s and natural light for my photos. Backbreaking work.:)
Shella and Anusiram: No need to precook the chickpeas. The deepfrying alone makes them crisp.
Hello Neelima: Thank you for bringing this to my notice.
They do not have my permission to publish the photo. I don’t have much energy to fight with these guys, so I started to think these type of photo stealing as photo donation, sort of my charity work to Indian newspaper industry.
Sreelu: Ledandi. Mari anta nune nu peelchavu. But each batch takes atleast 4 to 6 minutes of frying time.
Swaroopa: They make nice snack, aren’t they?:) You are welcome.
Comment by Indira — November 22, 2007 @ 4:44 pm
you always make me hungry!
Comment by Cynthia — November 23, 2007 @ 4:47 pm
And lens? 🙂
Comment by Chitra — November 25, 2007 @ 3:43 am
I use a Nikkor 105mm f/2.8 micro for food photography.
Happy birthday Chitra.:)
Comment by Indira — November 26, 2007 @ 12:18 am
Geeez….thanks! If only I had lived somewhere nearby, perhaps I would have got something nice to eat 😉 (ssssslllluuurrrppp)!
Comment by Chitra — November 28, 2007 @ 1:58 am
Hi.. Indira…
I tryed out dis recipe an it come out really good..!!
Thank you for d wonderful snack…!!
Comment by Archana — December 1, 2007 @ 8:24 pm