Crispy Crunchy Roasted Chickpeas: A Recipe Review.
Hello, darlings! It's been a week filled with wonderful surprises, including the delightful news that the LARP I've been eager to attend has become a non-profit, making it affordable for me to join. In celebration, I'm reviewing a high-protein, simple recipe that's ideal for all your fantasy adventure needs. The creator of this recipe suggests using it as a substitute for potato chips, and although I don't believe it can replace them, I must admit they make a fantastic snack. This recipe is from "Craving Vegan" by Sam Turnbull, a book I received from my best friend and one of her favorites. I'll shall walk you through the adaptions i made and my personal opinions on the recipe.
In his book, he outlines various seasoning combinations, and for this review, I opted for the "Cheesy" selection. I appreciate the recipe's simplicity; using a convection oven halved the cooking time. Now with all his options what he doesn’t mention is the different legume options as you can replicate this with several types, such as edamame and lentils. So, if you wanted to use a different bean or are interested in a legume trail mix, go for it just remember if you use lentils or smaller beans, they take less time to cook.
He also doesn't mention that if you prefer not to use canned beans or don't have any available, you can opt for dried beans. Just remember to cook them as usual before use. Now as always, it is wise to assemble all your ingredients beforehand to ensure an easier time later on.
Another thing I appreciate is that he has you rinse your beans, which is something you should always do. Rinsing your beans gets rid of the slightly metallic-tasting juice that they have been sitting in for who knows how long. Rinse your cooked beans in cold water as well, as it slows the cooking since they are still hot when you take them off the stove.
Another great thing he does is double roast the chickpeas, dry roasting them first before adding oil and spice. This makes for a crunchier chickpea that doesn’t soften in a day after you roast it, leaving you with sad, not quite dry, not quite soft chickpeas.
For those of you who don’t want your crisp snack to turn sad, this is a great tip.
Now, as I stated before, I chose his “cheesy” seasoning mix to make. This brings me to another thing I appreciate in this recipe: having many different seasoning blends to choose from. If you don’t like one of them, you don’t have to figure out one yourself. I like things a little spicy, so I added a bit of chipotle chili pepper to give it a little kick.
Now, he lists two methods, oven and air fry. I used his oven method as I find it the easiest for me, and most people do not have an air fryer. Let me tell you, even right out of the oven with no seasoning or oil, they were a nice little snack to munch on. They had the perfect balance of crispy dryness and just pure good taste, which is on account of the salt they were cooked in. So, my advice is to always salt the water or buy the salted cans. I did both salted and unsalted because the store was running low, and the pre-salted ones came out way better than the unsalted ones.
Now, a few things about the seasonings he calls for are garlic powder and yeast flakes. I used a yeast flake and garlic powder blend, as I have found that in my cooking it produces the same result as using them separately, unless you want a really strong garlic flavor.
Another thing is, after seasoning it up and before I put it into the oven for its second bake, I tasted it. I found it lacking something to really make that cheesy flavor pop.
So, after thinking about it for a few seconds, I went to one of my go-to fixes for a bland seasoning to give it a boost: the juice of half a lemon. After I added that and a little bit more salt, it was quite literally to die for. Barely a minute out of the oven, my friend and I were scooping it off the hot pan to consume. We barely refrained long enough for me to get a picture of the finished product before they were gone. That’s how I learned two cans were not enough, and the next time I make this, I will be making four or more cans. It will also be accompanying me to the Viking fest for a good ogre-fighting boost.
In conclusion, it was a delicious recipe that, while lacking a little bit of acid, is a wonderful addition to any game night, dinner party, or tiring adventure to give you that extra bit of protein without the mushiness of a full meal. I will, of course, link his book below as I recommend this and other recipes.
Buy it here on Amazon:
