By Tina Dawson 13 Comments
I was supposed to make a Chickpea salad for lunch this afternoon, but after a crazy day, I forgot to soak the chickpeas overnight. I went all hormonal on my mom, yelling and stomping and sulking (all of this packed into a tense 5 minutes, typical me) blaming the entire world for my suffering.
(Remember, soaking legumes overnight reduces the cooking time drastically, saving fuel and time)
After I calmed down a little, she taught me this quick fix for my problem.
If you have forgotten to soak chickpeas, or any legume for that matter that needs an overnight soak, this might help you.
– Heat some water to soak the chickpeas in. You should see those tiny bubbles sticking to the side of the pan.
– Dry roast the chickpeas in a pan over medium heat till it feels warm to the touch. Don’t over-do it though.
– Place the chickpeas in an insulated casserole dish ( or as we call it in India, a ‘hot pack’). If you do not have a casserole dish, then any heavy bottomed vessel will do. Be sure to cover it with a fitting lid to contain the steam.
– Drown the chickpeas in the hot water.
– Seal the container.
– Set aside for about an hour. In an insulated casserole, the chickpeas should soak in an hour. In any other container, it may take about 2-3 hours.
You’ll know that the chickpeas are soaked well, when you try to pinch one between your nails and it goes right through without too much trouble.
That’s it! Drain, rinse (to wash out any phytic acid that leached into the soaking water), and pressure cook them as usual and add to any recipe you intended to make. The whole affair was done in a little more than an hour!
That’s when I realized, Mothers do REALLY have a solution for everything. And they don’t tell you all they know all at once, because I think that even they don’t have a clue about how much they know. They drop in like superheroes in times of distress, and save the day!
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Reader Interactions
Comments
Jane says
I rapidly boil the unsoaked beans for 2 minutes and then leave to soak in that water for 30 minutes. Then, drain and use as you would any overnight-soaked beans. (Taught to me by Egyptian colleague I worked with in Nigeria.)
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Tina Dawson says
That is an excellent tip! Thank you for sharing! I will try it out and add it to the post so it helps others!
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Riya says
Thank you a lot …this tip saved my day
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Tina Dawson says
I’m so happy to hear that!
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Barbara Faulkner says
interesting information – I always thought you MUST soak chick peas overnight
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Tina Dawson says
Well, it’s highly recommended that you do the overnight thing. But this is a shortcut in case you missed it and still need chickpeas in less than 3 hours! 🙂
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Kevin says
I thought beans are soaked to release toxins that otherwise could kill a human.
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Tina Dawson says
No one is getting killed, I can promise you that!
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Liz says
I have heard that about kidney beans; I think the worst thing that will happen with chickpeas (or other beans besides kidney beans) cooked in their soak water is that it can give you horrific gas…
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stickyfingerstuff says
that applies to kidney beans (and others in the same family) , but it’s not the soaking which “kills” the toxin it is cooking them for long enough and at a high temperature -which does this
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Manas Thakuria says
Thank you, maa’m. Today I faced a similar situation like yours but a different circ*mstance. I’m preparing the Chana Masala recipe for the first time and had no idea about this initial step in the process. It worked ?
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Tina Dawson says
Happy to hear that it helped! Thank you for letting me know!
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stickyfingerstuff says
actually you can do the whole process in less time in a pressure cooker – put chick peas and plenty of water into pressure cooker, heat at low pressure setting until it statrs to hiss, reduce the temperature and keep it there for 15 -20 mins – this does the soak – then proceed to cook at high pressure as usual – really use lots of water as the peas absorba lot and you don’t want to run dry -this woeks with most other dried pulses, adjust the soak and cook times accordingly – you will never need to buy tinned ones again!
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