Garbanzo Nuts

[carbonite]

GARBANZO NUTS
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5 of cups cooked garbanzo beans
1 TBS. onion powder (or to taste)
1 TBS. garlic powder (or to taste)
Any other seasonings you may desire

* Place beans in a single layer on a no-stick baking pan.  While
damp, add seasonings to beans. Bake for about 45 mnutes in a 350 degree oven...or until they are dry and browned.  Loosen the beans from the pan with a spatula periodically  during the baking period and turn them a few times.
This reciple makes about 5 cups.

Inspired by Nathan Pritikin

[carbonite]

The guy I got this from told me that he used canned garbanzos.  I have never tried them but can't wait either. 

He modified the recipe many times...sometimes coating everything with a different oil.  Soy, canola, or olive might be good if you are going to do an oil. 

[carbonite]

A quick look on the net yielded some other garbanzo nut recipes.  They appear to use canned beans.  One site said this is an excellent treat for a party where you might normally serve nuts.

[niki]

hey..years ago,no self respecting greek would have a party without them(mixed with raisins,of course...golden raisins are my personal favorite) ............

[carbonite]

I am from Chicago.  So, we had lots of Greek restaurants around us.  We had plenty of Greek neighbors and school pals(although our neighbors weren't much like the family in  My Big Fat Greek Wedding).  I enjoy Greek food very much. 

On an LDL note.  My wife and I went to a restaurant yesterday for lunch.  I had the Greek salad.  Onions, lettuce, some sort of vinagrette, feta, pine nuts(i took most of them out), salmon, kalamata olives, green peppers, etc.  Wow!  Was it ever good. 

[carbonite]

If you try this garbanzo nut recipe...just know that 45 minutes isn't near enough.  I tried it out today and it took about 65 minutes.

[carbonite]

Yes.  I rinsed the beans.  Not sure how garbanzo nuts are really supposed to turn out, though.  Maybe Niki can chime in on this.  These things were hard as a rock...extremely crunchy.

45 minutes was definitely too little time.  I tried a couple "nuts" at that time, after letting two cool, and found they were still chewy in the center.  I guess just experiment.  I'll give it a few more tries.  The flavor seemed OK, though.  I think I like soy nuts better.

[niki]

i don't think i saw this post at the end of the trials of trying to perfect making dried roasted chick peas asking me to chime in.....because i would have asked everyone why they didn't just buy the finished product from loads of sources....i've never known a greek who made these themselves..they always buy them...and you can get them in any mediterranean store or any store that sells nuts and seeds...i mean,we eat soynuts because they're healthy and crunchy...but,if someone came up with nuts that were not fattening that tasted like the real thing,would there be a lot of people that would prefer soynuts?....i don't know...maybe some......but,greeks eat dried roasted chick peas because they like them and NOT as a substitute for anything...mixed with raisins they're delicious.........i buy both...soynuts and chick peas...if i eat israeli chickpea soup,i'll snack on soynuts that day.....most other beans,i'll eat stragalia(that's what they're called in greek)...now,i pulverized the roasted chick peas and used it as a filler for meat balls...the next thing i'm going to try making is chicken francais substituting this chickpea flour for regular flour....i wonder if i'm going to be uncomfortable eating it because it'll taste like the real thing(just like the greek meatballs i made)...
    and now i'm getting my dr to raise my dose of thyroid medication,so it shouldn't be long before i'm able to lose the additional 20 pounds i want to lose..........LOVE THIS PROGRAM.....niki     

[niki]

meanwhile.up here,i see them in a lot of places...the greek place near my father's house in queens sells them for $2.50/pound...but,i've seen them in the supermarket up here....maybe a mediterranean market might have them down there....they have the texture of nuts...and they're REALLY good with raisins....but,you definitely want to taste them before you order them online...and this place had those double roasted ones that were very dry to eat,but made a great flour when i put them in the blender.............niki   

[Rhea]

Mmmm, yummy chick peas. I must try and find some 'chick pea nuts'. Niki, if you're reading this, can you tell me what is the Greek name for them? (And how to pronounce it!) I want to try and find them at a Greek shop in London -- and also when I'm in Greece later in the summer.

I am wondering, if anyone does make them, whether it would be worth trying to make them with soaked chick peas rather than cooked ones? that's how soy nuts are done. I'll have a 'play' with this and see...

Rhea

[niki]

hi rhea....they're called stragalia and the accent is on the 2nd syllable ..stra-GAL-ya....but,wherever you go,people speak english so you'll definitely find them in greece....even in england,i would think you could find them in any mediterranean store or even a store that sells nuts or seeds should also have them.....
  and honestly,i've never known anyone who made them...from what i hear(here on the boards),when they're making them,they're not coming out the way they should..they're supposed to taste like nuts...they don't have that hard crunchiness of soynuts....they're softer..and with raisins,they're great....i mean,i grew up with people that made homemade bread,made their own greek philo..my friend's grandmother made her own greek sausage...but,i never knew anyone who made stragalia....it's too bad there isn't someone on the boards who's made them successfully....i'm going to go online to some of these websites that feature greek cuisine and see what i can find....i'll let you know if i find anything interesting.................niki

[Rhea]

Thank you for this, niki -- I'm looking forward to trying them when I get a chance to go to a Greek shop. They sound wonderful.

Rhea

[niki]

hi rhea..i hope you can find them....i'm going to my father's house for father's day on sunday....i asked my brother what day he was going to buy the meat for the barbeque.....i conned him to stop at the greek place i buy the chick peas from and buy me 10 pounds..........i told him noone on these boards can find them....HE DIDN'T BELIEVE ME....he told me "i can buy them anywhere here...in the supermarket".....although,when i went to fairway(that market that sells soynuts,soynut butter and willow run margarine) i was surprised not to find them...   
   you have to look in mediterranean markets or places that sell a lot of nuts and seeds....look in areas where there are a lot of greeks(although i also see online that indians eat them too) ....i hope you find them...i just want to see ONE person find them and say they like them.....and they're really the best with golden raisins.....i can't eat a lot of soy,so for me,they really help a LOT.......
   and just what you said,i find to be true...you told me that once i started buying more of these spices,i would have them in the house and use them more....i put cumin in my lentil soup..when i made that eggplant black bean soup,i put cumin in it....i've been using more spices and now the next time i go to fairway,i'm going to make a list and buy more.......have a blessed day...........niki   

[niki]

rhea...i don't know why your recipe for soynuts never really caught my eye.....maybe it did now because i'm coming to realize how difficult it is to find dried roasted chick peas..i was even looking online to see how easy it would be to order them and i couldn't really find anyplace....i did see how they sell a machine JUST to roast nuts,beans and seeds...i was reading how people were trying to make them compared to how you make the soynuts...if you do the chick peas in the exact same way you do the soynuts,that should do it....but don't let them get as done as you let the soynuts get.....they should stay yellow...everyone was using canned beans and not what you use...soaked beans..it sounds like they were oiling them before cooking them....so if everyone uses your recipe for soynuts and substitutes chick peas,it might work....what do you think?...
   personally?......i want to see let's do lunch foods and menus all over the country...i want to see soynuts AND dried roasted chick peas ALL OVER THE PLACE as staples of this program.............that's what i want to see.......niki

[Rhea]

Yes, niki, I think the soy nut recipe would work well with garbanzos. I'm going to soak some right now and will test the recipe over the weekend and report back!

Lovely warm sunny weather here at last in the UK, so they'll be nice to nibble in the garden, if they work!

Rhea

[niki]

hi rhea..i'm glad you think it might work...it's worth one last try(especially since they're so hard to find)...and just a few hours ago,my brother called me from the greek store and i told him to buy me 12 pounds....the guy there said he had just gotten some in so that answers my question about wether they have that roasting machine and roast them themselves..it sounds like they import them.......thanks for trying this......niki   

[Rhea]

Yes, the garbanzo beans did work. The trick is to make sure you soak them thoroughly -- I had mine soaking for 24 hours (by mistake, actually, but I think it was a fortuitous one!) -- then i drained them and roasted them at 350F for 20 minutes, checking them every 10 minutes.

Then i took them out, put them onto a cool plate so that they would stop cooking and sprinkled them with some salt, onion salt and garlic salt plus one or two drops of olive oil. I mixed them so that they were all well coated -- and, voila! -- they were good.

It's important not to overcook them -- 20 minutes was enough. They take much less time than soy nuts.

I've never tasted the 'real thing' so don't know how they compare. Maybe if you have a moment to try this with a small quantity, niki, and let us know what you think.

Rhea

PS They were crisp and crunchy with with quite a 'mealy' centre.