Receta Oven Roasted Chickpeas with Sophie Kinsella
For March, the Bookclub (back after a short hiatus) had chosen The Undomestic Goddess by Sophie Kinsella. I expected another shopaholic kind of story, but it was much better and slightly different. Like the shopaholic, here also the main protagonist is lady with her own ideas in her own world, but in a slightly different context. Unlike her counterpart shopaholic, she is a high flying no-time-for-anything-else lawyer Samantha Sweeting, who can't remember how her own vaccuum cleaner looks like. But she falls into a trap set by by a fellow lawyer and that shock brings her out into the real world where she is mistaken as a housekeeper!.
Just like any adventourous Kinsella heroine, she decides to go along with the flow and accepts the job which pays peanuts compared to here original $500-per-hour job. Now comes the best part. As a part of job interview with her slightly slow in the head employers she rattles of names like seared duck with apricot glaze,hummus and blah blah as being part of her cooking CV. Impressed, they tell her to start immediately and she is clueless in the kitchen. She just grabs chickpeas and dunks in oil and tosses in the oven going for a high temperature and thus starts the nightmare or nail biting read of the book.
I will rank the book slightly higher than the shopaholic series. Ofcourse, I loved the shopaholic series and always look forward to the next sequel,but this is a bit more than that and your average chicklit though there might not be sequel. The book is whole in itself.
I loved reading through Samantha's life and the first time my eyes popped out was while reading the and imagining the chickpea part.And naturally I too roasted chickpeas in the oven for Samantha and Kinsella and also the BookClub.
Ingredients:
Chickpeas (Kabuli Chana): 1/2 cup
Salt,Spices and Seasonings :as per your taste
Preparation:
Soak the chickpeas in enough water overnight and cook till done in the pressure cooker or stove top adding little salt.Drain it and keep it aside.You can also use the canned chickpeas in which case rinse the chickpeas thouroughly to remove the additional salts/preservatives if any and then drain.
Even after draining, they will still be a bit wet and moist. So spread them within thick sheets of paper towels and pat them dry.
Toss the chickpeas with oil and again little salt then layer them on a baking sheet.
Bake in a preheated oven at 400F/200C for about 30 minutes until you see them start getting brown. Start checking from 25 th minute onwards.
Take out, add seasonings or pepper or any other spice of your choice. Serve hot/warm/room temp as an anytime snack.
A simple healthy and easy snack. The beans are crispy especially ones with the skin on.You can even toss the roasted chickpeas with other salad ingredients to make all the more filling and healthy salad /light meal.Seasoned to perfection I can guarantee these will be your midnight snack as well.
Now lets checkout what other members have cooked for Samantha and Kinsella at the BookClub.