Friday 14 September 2012

Creating in the Kitchen

There was a time when I would say I hate cooking but I have realised that I don't actually hate cooking, I just don't like cooking for people who won't like what I have cooked.
I am forever trying to come up with new and interesting ways to make meals and snacks that are failsafe and acceptable to everyone. An unlikely event, methinks, but I still keep trying.
Today, having soaked a cupful of chickpeas overnight, I concocted a snack that might be acceptable to a few.


I'm not feeling very creative about a name for this concoction but I did accidentally call it Snickpea Chack - I'm good at that!!!

So here's a recipe of sorts.

1 cup of uncooked chickpeas, soaked overnight and then cooked for 1 hour in my Thermomix with 1500g of water and a teaspoonful of salt.

I finely chopped 3 cloves of garlic and sautéed them in a dob of butter.
When the garlic was just clear I poured in approximately 1/4 cup of Rice Malt Syrup and a 1/3 cup or so or hot water and stirred it up.
Then I added 1 tspn sugar, 1/2 tspn salt, and 1/4 tspn citric acid and simmered until it reduces a bit. At this stage I added some cubed swede and cooked it until tender.
Meanwhile, I preheated the oven to 210°C.
Remove from heat, add the cooked chickpeas and stir so that everything is coated in the syrup, then spread in a single layer on a non-stick baking sheet and bake for about 10 minutes.
Stir them up a little and cook for another 5 minutes.
Serve them up sprinkled with some chopped parsley and voila! They're ready to eat.

At least one of my kids likes it!

Speaking of chickpeas...
I've been following a few foodie blogs lately and Failsafe Foodie has a nice hommus recipe.