The recipe for "Roasted
Chickpeas" (page 5) conjured up gustatory visions of those crunchy wasabi
peas found in bulk sections of some grocery stores or in cans in the Asian food
section. Crunchy and salty, even spicy
if so desired, definitely one of those addictive foods. But leaving out the oil
in this recipe transforms the texture considerably, so I realized that I was
not going to end up with this kind of snack after all. No matter, these are
still fun munchies, either eating warm out of the oven, cooled to room
temperature, or tossing into a salad. If you have cooked chickpeas on hand, these
are super easy to make - drain and rinse, spread in a pan, top with seasoning,
and bake until browned (in this case, they won't be "crisped"). The
small amount of moisture left on the beans after rinsing them will help the
seasonings adhere to them. Start with salt as a seasoning, but add whatever
else sounds good to you, the possibilities are endless!
Keeping it "McDougall Friendly"
checklist:
- Do not toss the chickpeas in oil. Instead, do not pat dry after rinsing and draining to allow the spices to stick.
- Line your baking pan with parchment paper instead of oiling it.
I love your blog as I'm new to plant-based eating and cooking in general, and it has inspired me to try new things.
ReplyDeleteQuestion: can you roast things that are canned in water or are they too wet to roast properly?
Hello MySepiaSoul! Thank you so much for dropping by and your kind words about my blog! :)
ReplyDeleteWhile I'm not actually sure if foods canned in water are too wet to roast properly, I can tell you there is a definite difference in foods roasted without oil. In my experience, if you try to "dry" roast vegetables, for instance, they dry out and shrivel up more than I like. I have better luck putting seasoned raw vegetables in a baking dish with a splash of water, covering them, and baking at a moderate heat until tender. You won't get the crunchy,crusty outer skins and soft centers, but you will get a delicious outcome.
If this method were used to "roast" beans, though, I believe you would just end up with a stewed or simmered bean.
To conclude, I have not found anything comparable to taking raw vegetables, coating them in oil, and roasting them, uncovered. However, I have come to appreciate alternate approaches that yield slightly different results. :)
I hope this helped answer your question, and welcome to the delicious and healthy world of plant-based eating!!