Cooking chick peas (garbanzo beans) from dried is easier than I thought! The trick is in the soaking – you need to soak them for at least 24 hours before cooking. I actually soak them for 2 days, and have such great results that I keep doing it that way.
One thing to keep in mind is that they expand quite a bit – my first try was with 2 cups of dried chick peas, which yielded about 6 cups of cooked chick peas. Yikes! These days, I do 1 cup at a time.
- In a large bowl, add 4 cups of cool water to 1 cup of dried chick peas.
- Put the bowl in the fridge for at least 24 hours to soak, changing the water every day.
- Every once in a while, stir the chick peas around a bit.
- To cook, boil a large pot of water. Add the chick peas, and return to the boil. Lower the heat, and simmer for about 40 minutes – but test to get the perfect texture!
The “Back to Basics” series is a collection of simple instructions, to be used as a reference for preparing some of the ingredients in the pantry. Mostly, it’s just a way for me to keep track of some of this info because I never remember the simple stuff!