Wednesday, December 17, 2008

Spiced Smashed Chickpeas

I have made this a few times now and it always goes down well. This time I made it as a light starter when I made dinner for Sis and MJ. I was making fresh pasta for main (again - I love it!), so I didn't want to serve an entree. Instead I made this and also some almonds which I panfried in a little olive oil and then tossed with some sea salt and dried chilli. They were awesome - so good that we ate them all before I realised that I hadn't gotten a photo!

This recipe is disgustingly easy. If you have a large morter and pestle, you can fit the whole lot in there, just add the chickpeas a little at a time to avoid them flying across the room! If you only have a small one, then you will need to smash them in batches. Alternatively, you lucky people with food processors could make it in there!
1 x 400g can chickpeas, drained and rinsed
1 tsp cumin powder
2 dried chillies
1 clove garlic
juice of 1 lemon
olive oil

Crush the garlic and chillies in a morter and pestle with a little salt. Add the chickpeas a bit at a time, crushing them before you add the next lot. Add in your cumin, lemon juice and season with salt and pepper, mash around a bit, then add olive oil to loosen a bit.

Recipe adapted from Jamie Oliver's The Return of the Naked Chef.

4 comments:

  1. I love chickpeas. This dip sounds great. I love the addition of cumin.

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  2. I like the sound of any dish that sounds this easy and involves a bit of smashing about in the kitchen. Nice touch with the food processor - I think I tried the original Jamie recipe with a small mortar and pestle and had chickpeas missile-launching all over the kitchen too.

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  3. Pam - I think cumin would have to be one of my favourite spices, and cumin AND chickpeas? Awesome!

    Lee - Easy is always good. And I can only wish for a food processor! Luckily I have an enormous pestle and mortar!

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