A Cookable Feast

I’ve been wanting to try making crispy oven-roasted chickpeas for a while now. It was just a matter of dreaming up the perfect flavor to try. Chili-lime was the idea that stuck with me, and I have to say, it turned out to be a pretty delish one! The rich savoriness of the chili and garlic powders, the vibrant tang of the lime juice, and the slight heat of the cayenne pepper meld into an addictive explosion of flavor. And because this snack is made with chickpeas – which, as legumes, are a naturally great source of protein and fiber – and is oven-roasted rather than fried, you can feel good about indulging.

A note about cooking time: in researching how to roast chickpeas online, I found most recipes recommended doing so at 400 degrees for 30 to 40 minutes. For my first batch (I made two), I roasted mine for 45 minutes, and I think I could count on one hand the chickpeas that I found in it that were actually crunchy. But then again, my oven is kind of f@!ked. It often takes much longer than recipes I am following tell me it should to cook something properly. This mostly affects the baking of heavy breads or cakes, but sometimes it hinders other items, too. So with Batch Number Two, after 45 minutes, I started checking it periodically, testing the chickpeas until I found they were the desired crunchiness. I ended up cooking them for an hour and five minutes! They were nice and crunchy then – well, maybe almost too crunchy. The flavors were just not as distinctive when they were that well-done. So I would recommend cooking the chickpeas for 40 minutes, and then if they aren’t your desired doneness, cooking them in five-minute intervals until they are.