Roasted chickpeas are delicious, high in protein, fibre, iron, low GI and contain manganese for energy production, making this a healthful and energy boosting snack.

Also being a legume rather than a nut, you can put them in school and kinder lunch boxes without fear of causing allergic reactions in your own child or their peers. This is a great desk or study snack and also a pretty great option for a DIY cinema snack. We recently took a large container of roasted chickpeas with us on a snow trip and the energy it provided made for many extra toboggan runs.

To make a nice big 2kg batch of roasted chickpeas that could do your family for a week you will need:

Ingredients

1kg of raw chickpeas

6 tablespoons of neutral oil (I use rice bran but olive oil works fine and coconut oil is also great)

2 teaspoons salt

Some herbs and spices (about 6 – 10 teaspoons total).

Method:

1. Place your chickpeas in a very large bowl and cover with cold water. Soak overnight or for 10-12 hours.
2. Drain the chickpeas from their soaking liquid and place in your largest pot. Cover with water and simmer on medium-low heat for 1 – 1.5 hours. Test them after an hour; if you bite into one and it is still tough, cook it for longer.
3. When the chickpeas are cooked, drain them and allow cooling thoroughly. Give them a toss in the colander to release water and steam.
4. Preheat your oven to 160 degrees Celcius.
5. Toss the cooked chickpeas with the olive oil and your herbs and spices. A list of idea for flavour combinations follows below.
6. Spread chickpeas in one layer on 2 shallow baking trays (choose ones with sides as it helps for tossing the chickpeas as they cook, otherwise they’ll just roll off)
7. Cook chickpeas for one hour or until all the chickpeas are crisp. Every 15 minutes give the trays a few firm shakes to move the chickpeas in the centre of the trays to the outside so all crisp evenly.
8. Store cooled chickpeas in airtight containers and jars for up to a week.

Flavour ideas:

Hot and smoky: 7 teaspoons smoked paprika and ½ teaspoon of chilli flakes or cayenne pepper

Sweet and spicy: 6 teaspoons brown sugar, 2 teaspoons ground cinnamon, 1 teaspoon mixed spice and some grated nutmeg

Herbs:  3 sprigs of rosemary finely chopped, a handful of sage leaves finely chopped, half a bunch of thyme leaves finely chopped

Wasabi (chick)peas:  combine 3 teaspoons of tubed wasabi paste (or, if you are a hoarder like I am, several sachets of the wasabi they give you for free when you buy sushi), 1 teaspoon of cider vinegar and 2 teaspoons honey or agave. When your chickpeas have been cooking for 45 minutes, remove from the oven, toss with this mixture and return to the oven for 15 minutes.

Curried: 3 teaspoons curry powder, 2 teaspoons turmeric, 1 teaspoon ground coriander, 1 teaspoon ground cumin

Garlicky cheesy: 4 teaspoons garlic powder, 1 cup of grated parmesan cheese

Honey soy: 4 tablespoons of runny honey and 4 tablespoons of soy sauce (skip the salting of the chickpeas if using soy)