What to do with mushy chickpeas
Posted by kathryn in Legumes, Dinners, Recipes and Spring
They say pride comes before a fall.
Having confidently talked about how good legumes are for you and how easy they are to cook – I now have to blog about what to do when you’re distracted while cooking chickpeas and end up boiling them into a mush.
Whups.
I was at home yesterday and foolishly thought I’d multi-task by cooking a batch of chickpeas while working.
However the distractions of work, phone calls and emails, meant I forgot about the little peas and waaaaaay over-cooked them.
So now I have about half a hundred-weight of mushy chickpeas.
What to do?
An obvious options is to make hummous. Plus mushy chickpeas are also useful for soups like lablabi. However I decided to make chickpea patties.
These are based on a Donna Hay recipe and I’ve been making them for years. You can use tinned chickpeas, they’re great for barbecues and the raw mixture freezes. Plus they’re quick, easy and tasty.
I often mix the flavourings around, using fresh herbs or taking out the chilli, depending on what’s in the fridge.
Chickpea Patties
Serves 4
- 250g cooked or tinned chickpeas (about 2 cups)
- 1 zucchini, finely grated
- 1 carrot, finely grated
- 1 garlic clove, crushed
- 1 chilli, finely chopped
- 1 egg, lightly beaten
- 1/4 cup ricotta
- 3 slices white bread or 1 packed cup breadcrumbs
Making the patties: Place all the ingredients into a food processor and process for a couple of minutes until combined. If you don’t have a food processor, simply mash up the chickpeas and mix together with the rest of the ingredients.
Divide the mixture into 8 and shape into patties. If you have time, put them in the fridge for 15 minutes.
Cooking the patties: Heat a drizzle of olive oil in a frying pan and place over a medium heat. Add the patties. Cook for about 3 minutes on each side, or until crispy. Be careful when you turn them over, as they’re quite delicate.
Remove and drain on paper towel.
How to serve: I usually serve these with home-made low fat oven cooked potato wedges and steamed vegies.
03 August, 2006
Comments
These really are good and are now a part of my portfolio (how pretentious can you get?!) of recipies
The mix for the chickpea patties is too soft and won’t firm up even when cooking.
Is there a way to firm up without more breadcrumbs. We did follow the recipe.
Please help!!!
Melanie, sticky patties are no good at all! The mixture is quite soft and when you shape it into patties doesn’t feel like it’s going to hold together. You have to be gentle with them when cooking, but I find they do hold together once cooked.
You could try using a little more olive oil and making sure it’s hot before you put the patties in, so that they seal more quickly. Also the carrots and zucchini do need to be finely grated, so they are amalgamated with the mixture. If they still really won’t work, then you could try taking out the ricotta cheese, or replacing it with a drier cheese, like parmesan?
Let me know how you go and if these help – and also if you’re still having problems!
Kathryn
I have the opposite problem. I can’t seem to cook my chick peas long enough to get them tender. Any hints?
Alison, I suspect you’re not using enough water. Like pasta, chick peas need to be cooked in a lot of water and if you’re using too little, they never seem to actually go soft. Make sure the water level is at least 4cm above the chickpeas while you’re cooking them. You’ll probably need to add more water during cooking process.
There’s more information on cooking legumes here and there’s a little video on how to cook here.
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