EATS: Smokey Spicy Garbanzo Snack

Ever since we watched The Game Changer, Plum and Monkey King have dived whole-heartedly into the blissful world of plant-based eating. So if you love your whole roasted chicken, brisket, pork shoulders, duck confit, beef tenderloin, quail, seared salmon, dover sole, clam bake, lobster (can you tell how much I miss these?), DO NOT, I repeat, DO NOT, let your family anywhere near that movie. But if you want something to convince you and your loved ones that being a vegetarian is a heatlhy choice, by all means, head on over! This movie will transform and energize your resolve to become a vegetarian. With our drastic shift in food consumption, I started looking to beans and other proteins sources.

Garbanzo, also known as chickpeas, is packed densely with nutrients, providing rich protein, dietary fiber, folate, iron, and phosphorus. Soaking and cooking garbanzo beans increase their protein digestability, essential amino acid index, and enhance protein efficiency ratio. I am a big fan of those savory roasted green pea snack that you typically find in Asian food markets, so I want to make my garbanzo bean a little spicy and savory that we can snack on, or put in a rice bowl with green veggies. After several tweaking and multiple requests from Plumster who is addicted to this snack, here is recipe. Hope you find this helpful!

Ingredients (serves 1-4, depending on how good you are about sharing)

1 can of 15.5oz Garbanzo beans (or dry beans soaked overnight)
Paprika powder, 2 Tbs
Salt, 2 Tbs
Garlic powder, 2 Tbs
Cayenne pepper, 1 Tbs or nore if you want it more spicy
Tumeric, 1 tsp
Ground ginger, 1tsp
Extravirgin olive oil, generously drizzled, approximately 2 Tsp

Steps:

Preheat the oven to 350F
Rinse and drain the garbanzo beans
Lay out the beans in a single layer on the rimmed sheet pan and pat dry well
Mix the dry powders in a bowl; this recipe can give you enough leftovers for a second round
Sprinkle 2 Tsp of the powder mix evenly
Drizzle about 1 to 2 Tsp olive oil, enough to cover the beans
Wash your hands carefully again ((please soap for 20 seconds during the COVID 19 outbreak!) and dry. Then carefully MASSAGE the spice oil together, watch the video below. Your hand will get quite messy.
Sprinkle another Tsp of the spice powder mix all over

Roast in the oven in 350F for 40-45 minutes
Resist the temptation to open the oven door while the aroma infuses the kitchen
Before cool down, you may add a sprinkle of sea salt to taste.
Enjoy! We eat it both as an afternoon snack and as a side dish to our dinner. Either way, you’ll be glad that you have that extra powder mix to make another batch soon (tomorrow?)!