Steamed Chickpeas

Soak chickpeas for 6 hours in water. Pour off water. Steam chickpeas, for approximately 1 hour, maybe more, until tender and yet chewy. Do not overcook to mushiness. Drain thoroughly, cool and sprinkle with salt and garlic salt.

I used a rice steamer and the flavor of the chickpeas is totally different (almost like a peanut) from the canned or the usual boiled flavor.

So just out of curiosity, I tried steaming a small handful of several different beans, altogether (small red, kidney, black beans, lima, navy, adzuki, pinto). (By the way, soak black beans separately, they stain the white beans a very attractive shade of gray!) Same result! I ended up just snacking on them by the handful.

I never even got far enough to use them for soup or something, they were so good by themselves! This will be great for summer when it's too hot to cook! Try experimenting with different spices (cumin, red pepper, Cajun, Italian etc.). I will probably never use canned or simmered beans again, if I can help it. I'm definitely not a cooking purist, but the difference with this steaming method is enormous!

From Fatfree Digest April-May 1994,