- Preparation time
- 40 mins
- Cooking time
- 40 mins
- Difficulty
- moderate
- Serves
- 5 people
- Lunch
- September 1, 2016
Berbere Roasted Chickpeas.
The secret to flawlessly crispy roasted chickpeas, pus a Ethiopian berbere spice mix.
A lot of (I might even dare to say most) Ethiopian cuisine uses their unique spice mixture Berbere. Combining spices flavours I was familiar with in totally fresh ways was enough for me to start putting it on, well… everything. Chicken- berbere! Fish- berbere! Roasted veggies- berbere! Popcorn- berbere! (I could go on for a long time, but you get the point- put it on EVERYYYYYTHINGGG)
Traditionally, berbere has quite a kick to it and, while I personally love rip-your-lips-off spicy food, I appreciate that not everyone does. While this berbere mix does call for chilis, I have toned the heat down for your average North American palette- big flavour with just a hum of heat.
PrintBerbere Roasted Chickpeas
Ingredients
Berbere:
- 1/3 cup whole coriander seeds
- 1 1/3 cups whole cumin seeds
- 1/4 cup whole cloves
- 2/3 cup green cardamom pods
- 1/3 cup black peppercorns
- 3 Tbsp allspice berries
- 2/3 cup whole fennel seeds
- 10 g dried Arbol chiles, stems removed
- 1/3 cup ginger powder
- 3 Tbsp turmeric
- 2/3 cup kosher salt
- 1 cup dried chickpeas, soaked overnight in water
- 1 Tbsp + 1 tsp Berbere
- 1 Tbsp olive oil
Instructions
- Line a large baking sheet with parchment paper. In a large frying pan over medium heat, using NO OIL, dry toast all the Berbere ingredients except the turmeric and kosher salt. Stir and shake the pan constantly.. Take extra care to make sure the spices do not burn- this whole process shouldn’t take longer than a minute or two but it does require constant supervision. As soon as the spices are fragrant, pour them out onto the lined baking sheet. Let the spices cool completely and then grind in batches using a spice grinder (or a thoroughly cleaned coffee grinder). Add turmeric and salt and mix well. Store in an airtight container in your pantry.
- Preheat oven to 400 degrees.
- Drain soaked chickpeas well and dry them thoroughly using paper towel. This is probably the most important step to take to ensure your roasted chickpeas end up crispy and not soggy, so don’t skimp on doing a good job here.
- In a small bowl, mix together the 1 Tbsp olive oil with the 1 Tbsp + 1 tsp Berbere. Spread chickpeas out on to a large baking tray, pour the oil mixture over and toss to coat. Bake for 45-60 minutes, shaking the pan every 10-15 minutes, until chickpeas are golden and crispy. Let cool and enjoy!
