I am going through a major chickpea phase at the moment. MAJOR.
Lately, I have spent a great deal of time playing with this delightful little legume also known as the garbanzo bean.
Admittedly, I have never given it its due credit. Chickpea's are packed with protein and are high in fiber.
You can add them to all sorts of meals or simply have on their own as a snack.
Over the past few weeks, I have roasted them, blended them, fried them, and well, eaten them fresh. What a treat!
The kitchen has been covered with hummus curries and all things chickpea so much so that I even started considering chickpeas as the holy grail of legumes. Thankfully, I'm an equal opportunist when it comes to pulses and legumes so there is a lot of love to go around.
I recently partnered up with Woolworths to share this incredible (and hearty) soup that was born out of the chaos of my kitchen.
This soup is unashamedly the love child of a roasted cauliflower and (roasted) chickpea and it is nothing short of perfection.
At the risk of sounding like a tag line for a coffee creamer commercial from the 80's, It boasts roasted chickpeas both inside and on top of it.
Say goodbye to the stock standard croutons of yesteryear and welcome the roasted chickpea of tomorrow!
Not only does the chickpea have better health benefits; they are able to replace less than ideal snacks and accompanyments with just as much flavour.
You can eat them solo with some grated Parmesan on! (I recommend a 3 year aged Parmesan), spice up the mundane nut bowl in your life or you can include them in salads and soups!
I feel like this blog post should come with a warning sign.
WARNING: Chickpeas are slightly addictive.
Serves 6, cook time: 1h 30m
Ingredients:
- 2 tins of chickpeas
- 2 cauliflower heads
- 1 ½ teaspoon cumin
- ½ teaspoon paprika
- 2 garlic cloves, chopped
- ½ an onion, chopped
- 3 potatoes peeled and chopped.
- Olive Oil
- 1 liter vegetable stock
- ¼ cup of Parmesan
- Salt and pepper to taste
Instructions:
Preheat oven to 180 degrees Celsius
Rinse and dry your chickpeas. Keep the tins separate as you are going to roast them separately.
Separate your cauliflower heads into florets.
Put your cauliflower and 1 tin of chickpeas onto a roasting tray. Drizzle with Olive oil and toss. Make sure you don’t over do the oil.
Sprinkle your cumin and paprika over and roast for 30 minutes. Tossing the tray at the 15 minutes mark.
In a large pot over a medium heat add a tablespoon of olive oil, the garlic and onion and fry until soft. Add your potatoes and fry for a further 5-10 minutes stirring often.
Once your cauliflower and chickpeas are roasted add them to your pot.
Add your last tin of chickpeas to the roasting tray, drizzle with olive oil and roast for 30 minutes, tossing them every 10 minutes or so.
Add the vegetable stock to the pot and top up with boiling water.
Let simmer for 30 minutes. Blend the soup using an immersion blender.
Add your Parmesan and stir.
Salt and pepper to taste
Remove the chickpeas from the oven. You can grate Parmesan over them and have them as a snack and serve the rest of them as a crunch to your soup.
Serve soup hot topped with chickpeas, Parmesan and black pepper.
-Melissa
*This blog post is sponsored by Woolworths all opinions are my own