This is way too early in my usual timeline to be posting about food, but this needed to be done because my grandmother is coming over (and you know you’re in for it, whatever it may be, when your father from another continent calls just to warn you that his mother is coming to visit) and I have nothing in the kitchen save for the staples (which explains the frequent use of basic flour dough in the recent posts). I told the house management team to go to the farmer’s market and take care of lunch while I cover the base and create a culinary diversion. I rummaged throughout and unearthed this can of garbanzo beans (chickpeas).

First thought: when did I buy this? (though I have a suspicion that it must’ve been from the time when I made Adin’s assorted dips foodwish). Second thought: Is this still safe to eat? Well, it’s canned, right? So I checked the expiry date and it still had a good solid year before expiration, but to be safe I opened it and checked the inside.

Ugh. Nasty.

But since nothing with tentacles or fungus as a head came jumping out, it was in the clear. The next thing to do would be to drain and rinse it with running water, because there’s no way that you’d put the gunk it came in into your mouth least of all your grandmother’s.

And then pat it dry with a paper or tea towel.

Great. Now what?

Furiously search the inter-web for garbanzo/chickpea recipes, I say. I sifted through them and found one for roasted chickpeas. Now I’ve eaten roasted chickpeas before - but without knowing that it’s chickpeas. I mean, who would’ve thought that this heap of pale, bland beans - a celebrated symbol of healthy food, can become a pile of deliciousness; crunchy and slightly split on the outside while soft and buttery on the inside - with just the addition of a tablespoon of oil and a mix of spices? 

Well now you do. And now you must try.

Note: I sometimes hate it when recipes say “put whatever you like” without also including what the writer puts in themselves - it just helps to give an indication as to what’s appropriate to be put in and not. So for this recipe, I’m going to include the list of spices I used.

ROASTED SPICED CHICKPEAS:

[ one 15-ounce can garbanzo beans + 1 tablespoons olive oil + salt + spice blend of your choice (I used a 1/2 teaspoon salt + 1/4 teaspoon each of turmeric powder, cinnamon, garlic powder, chili powder, white & black pepper + 1 teaspoon of sugar) ]

Preheat oven to 400F.

PREP THE BEANS:

Drain the can of garbanzo beans in a strainer and rinse with water for a few seconds to clean off the beans. Shake and tap the strainer to rid of excess water.

Lay paper towl on a baking sheet, and spread the beans over. Use another paper towel to gently press and absorb the water on the beans.

Roll the beans around with the paper towel to also remove the thin skin from any of the beans. Discard the skins.

Drizzle the olive oil over the beans and use your hands or a spatula to toss around and coat. 

Roast for 30-40 minutes until the beans are a deep golden brown and crunchy. Make sure that the beans do not burn.

Season with salt and spice blend.

You can serve it straightaway or set it aside for a while to let it dry a bit.

[ one 15-ounce can garbanzo beans + 1 tablespoons olive oil + salt + spice blend of your choice (I used a 1/2 teaspoon salt + 1/4 teaspoon each of turmeric powder, cinnamon, garlic powder, chili powder, teaspoon white & black pepper + 1 teaspoon of sugar) ]

DIRECTIONS:

1. Pre-heat the oven to 400F
2. Dain the beans and rinse with water to remove the starchy liquid.
3. Pat dry with a paper or tea towel. Discard any skins that came off.
4. Put the beans in a single layer on a baking tray and drizzle with the olive oil. Toss with a spatula to coat.
5. Roast for 30-40 minutes until beans are deep golden brown and crunchy on the outside - make sure it doesn’t burn.
6. Season with salt and spice blend.

Enjoy!

So here’s a little history behind the shape of the pretzels;

The German story tells that a baker was once put in prison for supplying bad bread to the people. After being in captive for ages, the authorities had enough of the bakers laments, and so told him that if he could bake something good and new in which the sun could shine through three times, then they would set him free. The baker then came up with the pretzel and was set free because, sure enough, the sun light was able to shine through it three times.

- Source

Not sure whether I believe the history or not. All I know is that I’ve been craving for pretzels since I saw ~LiDac’s photo and just had to make some.

Dough:

[2g sugar + 8g dry yeast + 148ml warm water + 315g flour + 50g sugar + 4g salt + 8ml vegetable oil]

Yes, the sugar is mentioned twice.

So you take the warm water and dissolve the 2g sugar in it.

Then dissolve the yeast

Leave for 5-10 mins. It will be bubbly and frothy by then (which means the yeast has digested the sugar and made some CO2! wippeee!)

Measure out the flour, put into a mixing bowl.

Make a well in the center. Add in the 50g sugar and the salt

Mix into the flour, make a well again. Pour in the yeast water mixture

Add in the oil

Mix until the flour has incorporated into the liquid. Use your hands to work in the last bit of loose flour and dough bits into one ball. Leave to stand in damp, warm place for about 1 hour.

When the dough has risen, punch the air out and roll onto a floured surface

Shape into a thick rope as long as your forearm

Score the dough in half. Then half of the halves, then halve of the quarters

Trace the line and cut the dough to pieces

And now we’re going to make the pretzel shape! Don’t be intimidated, just follow the step by step and all will be well.

Take one small piece of dough and shape it to a long, thin rope (not too thin).

Make a U shape

Then twist the top part, like so

Then bring down the ends to the bottom of the “U”. Be sure to secure the ends that is attached to the U, because if they’re loose, they will unravel when you put them in the “soda bath”.

Repeat until you’ve done it to the remainder of the dough

“Soda Bath”

[ 55g baking soda + 480 ml hot water]

Take a saucepan and heat up the water until it boils, then turn the heat down just enough to keep the water hot. Add in the baking soda

Throw in your pretzels into the bath

Leave them in for around 50 seconds. Get your stopwatch out if you need to, they must not be in there longer than 1 minute

Fish them out using a spatula or a slotted spoon

Placed on greased baking tray and lay on some egg wash (egg+water)

Bake in the oven at 230 degrees for about 12 minutes

When it’s done, brush on some melted butter and sprinke with salt, herbs or cinnamon sugar. I chose cinnamon sugar!

Enjoy!