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The Honolulu Advertiser
Posted on: Wednesday, February 13, 2002

Don't limit garbanzos to just one use

By Angela Stephens
Gannett News Service

Garbanzos aren't just for salad bars and tahini. Combined with rice, bread crumbs, nuts, seasonings and a few other ingredients, garbanzos, also known as chickpeas, can be rolled into croquettes to be baked and eaten as an entree or stuffed into a tortilla or pita bread for a veggie wrap. A handful of garbanzos add nutrition, texture and flavor to soups and stews.

You can use fully cooked, canned garbanzos or start from scratch with dried beans. In "World Vegetarian," (Clarkson Potter, $24.95) author Madhur Jaffrey suggests soaking one- to one and one-half cups of chickpeas in about five cups of water overnight.

To cook them the next day, add another six cups of water to the soaking water and bring to a boil. Then, reduce heat to low and cook the peas gently for one to three hours. Salt can be added in the last half-hour of cooking, but not earlier, or the peas won't become tender.

Here's a delightfully different — and easy — recipe from Habeeb Salloum's book, "Classic Vegetarian Cooking from The Middle East and North Africa" (Interlink, $37.95).

Chickpeas with Macaroni

2 tablespoons olive oil
2 medium onions, chopped
3 cloves garlic, crushed
1/4 cup finely chopped fresh cilantro
1 small hot pepper, very finely chopped
1 (19-ounce) can chickpeas with liquid
1 (19-ounce) can stewed tomatoes
1 1/2 cups elbow macaroni
1 cup water
salt and pepper, to taste
1/4 teaspoon allspice
1/4 teaspoon cumin

Heat oil in a frying pan and saute onions and garlic over medium heat until they begin to turn brown. Stir in cilantro and hot pepper and saute for another few moments. Transfer frying pan contents to a casserole dish.

Add remaining ingredients and stir. Bake in a preheated 350-degree oven for about 40 minutes, or until macaroni is cooked.

Makes 6 servings.