Put your pantry and spice rack to work. With barely heating up your kitchen, this vegetarian chickpea (also known as garbanzo beans) dish packs a wallop of flavor in very little time.
I’ve missed being able to go to Indian and Pakistani restaurants since the Covid virus. Instead, for months I’ve been making my own “inspired by” restaurant meals. For a short cut, sometimes I use spice blends found at Sri Lanka markets near us. However, these spice blends often have 20 different spices — and who knows what the proportions are for each? Instead, I created a spice blend consisting of spices that just about anyone, anywhere can find at any supermarket.
Don’t be spooked by the number of spices in this deceptively simple chickpea dish. You probably have most, if not all the ingredients in your pantry, already. Put them together and… TA-DAH! A meal in and of itself or a bold side-dish. You can serve the chickpeas by themselves, or over room temperature Greek yogurt or vinaigrette-dressed shredded cabbage or lettuce.
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Spiced Chickpeas (Garbanzo Beans)
Ingredients
- 2, 15-ounce cans chickpeas (garbanzo beans), drained, rinsed and patted dry
- 2 tablespoons olive oil
- 3-4 small vine-ripened tomatoes, cored and diced about 1/2-inch
- 1/2 teaspoon ground cumin
- 1/2 teaspoon chili powder
- 1/2 teaspoon kosher or sea salt (not iodized table salt)
- 1/2 teaspoon regular paprika (sweet)
- 1/4 – 1/2 teaspoon smoked paprika
- 1/4 teaspoon ground ginger
- 1/4 teaspoon mustard powder
- 1/8 teaspoon cayenne pepper or ground hot pepper flakes
Directions
- Drain, rinse and pat dry chickpeas. Set aside
- Core and dice tomatoes. Set aside
- Bring a medium-sized sauté pan to medium heat. Add olive oil and spices and mix well with a spoon or whisk
- Add chickpeas and tomatoes and stir until well coated with the oil and spices
- Stirring occasionally, cook for about 10 minutes until the tomatoes break down and become “melty” and most of their liquid has evaporated
- Serve chickpeas by themselves, or over room temperature Greek yogurt or vinaigrette-dressed shredded cabbage or lettuce
Greg Nelson Cooks 
This is definitely dinner tonight! I was looking for something quick and vegetarian to make and Greg is right, these are ingredients that I always have on hand.
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