Chickpeas; 3 easy ways to use

A tin of chickpeas can go a long way to adding some much needed (good) calories, protein, fibre, and even iron! Along with a whole lot of other nutrients that your body needs. A tin of chickpeas (240g drained weight) has 15 grams of protein. It can be the basis of a meal, or you can have it to add bulk to vegetables as a side to your main protein. 

Be careful though, as they can be carb-heavy, and if you are on a limited amount of carbs, such as on Keto, this may be an ingredient that you want to avoid. Chickpeas (tinned) are easily storable, cheap and is a regular item in our shopping basket. With all the recipes below, remember to drain the chickpeas first!

Today, we are going to go through some of our favourite ways to use chickpeas in a meal.

Hummus

This one is probably the easiest to make. You add in all the ingredients, and blend! We recommend getting a hand blender, but you can of course use any blender you have.

Ingredients:

• A tin of chickpeas
• Tablespoon of Tahini
• 1 Garlic Clove (or a teaspoon of crushed garlic)
• Juice of 1 Lemon
• Tablespoon of Olive Oil 
• Optional ingredients:
• Quarter teaspoon Paprika
• Quarter teaspoon Cumin
• Chillies to taste (Green Chillies)

Method:

1. Add all the ingredients to your blender and blend. Remember, you can add more liquids as you blend, so if need be, add in some more lemon juice, or olive oil.

2. Have with Carrots/Cucumber for a snack, or add to your main meal, such as chicken, for a side.

Chickpea, Butter Bean and Veg Medley

This meal works out well if you are vegetarian, and there are so many ways you can do this. We’ll explain our chosen way to do this, but add in all the vegetables you like! As mentioned before, a tin of chickpeas contains 15 grams of protein, as do Butter Beans. So this meal works out well for getting in your protein intake - either if you are vegetarian, vegan, or on a high protein intake diet!

Ingredients:

• Tin of Chickpeas
• Tin of Butter Beans
• Rapeseed oil
• Your choice of veg (we used bell peppers and red onion)
• Salt and Pepper to taste

Optional:

• 1 teaspoon of Garlic powder, half a teaspoon of crushed red chillies and a dusting of cayenne pepper

Method:

1. Drizzle oil over a hot pan and add in the peppers. (used rapeseed oil here)  

2. Once lightly grilled, add in the onions and cook until browned. 

3. Add in the drained chickpeas and butter beans and toss.

4. Add in seasoning; salt, pepper, garlic powder, chillies and cayenne pepper. 
5. Toss all together until cooked - this is usually around 10 minutes on a low/medium flame. 

6. This can be eaten on its own, or added to chicken, like we have underneath for a more substantial meal. 

Chickpea Burgers

Another one where you can dump all the ingredients in a blender/bowl and mash, but this one does need to be grilled. These burgers there's no flour in them, so that makes them pretty soft and prone to crumbling. But that's good! You can have this with salad, and if you want them for lunch during work, they taste just as nice cold. 

Ingredients:

• 1 can of Chickpeas
• 1 tablespoon of Olive Oil
• 1/3 teaspoon of Cumin
• 1 teaspoon of Garlic Powder
• Salt + Pepper and Chillies to taste
• Bunch of Parsley 

Method:

1. Add all ingredients to your blender, and blend. As there is not much moisture in this, you may need to keep mixing it with a spoon to ensure there is a consistency in the mix. (You want it to be able to stick together on a spoon whilst holding it upside down.)

2. Form into round patties (oil your hands to it doesn't stick) and place on a hot pan (lightly coated with oil). 

3. It takes about 5 minutes to cook on a medium flame (only flip over once as they are really soft and can break if you repeatedly flip them).
4. Serve and enjoy!