What Can I Cook With Chickpeas? 7 Dishes, Dried or Tinned

Dried or tinned: decide first

Chickpeas (safed chana, or chole) come two ways, and the recipe often decides which. Some dishes work equally with either. One needs dried chickpeas and will not work with tinned.

• Works with tinned or dried: chana masala, chana chaat, hummus, samosa chaat.
• Better from dried: chole, if you want the dark, soft result from boiling with tea leaves.
• Dried only: falafel. The recipe uses raw, soaked chickpeas and says not to cook them, so they stay firm enough to grind.

Our chana masala and chana chaat recipes both say to skip the boiling step if you are using tinned chickpeas. For dried ones, the recipe says to soak for 8 hours or overnight, then boil 45 to 60 minutes (10 to 12 minutes in a pressure cooker) until one crushes easily between your fingers.

Quantities are shown in metric and US units on every recipe page.

Curries

Chana masala (spiced chickpeas). 300 g (1.5 cups) of chickpeas, an onion, a tomato, ginger, garlic and spices. The chickpeas simmer for 10 to 15 minutes with 1 cup of their cooking water, and you crush a few against the pan to thicken the gravy without any flour. Finish with chaat masala and coriander, and optionally a squeeze of lemon. 1 hour including boiling, Easy. For a darker colour, boil the dried chickpeas with a black tea bag and remove it before cooking the masala.

Chole bhature. The big weekend version. 300 g (10.5 oz) of chickpeas pressure-cooked about 25 minutes with a tea-leaf pouch, then simmered 15 minutes in an onion and tomato masala until thick and dark. The bhature are fried flatbreads made from 300 g (10.5 oz) of flour, yogurt and baking powder. The dough rests 2 hours. They are fried at about 180 C (350 F). If they do not puff, the oil is usually not hot enough. About 1 hour on the stove, plus the dough rest. Medium. Cook the chickpeas the day before. The card says chole tastes better after resting overnight.

Chotpoti. A Bangladeshi street stew. 200 g (1 cup) of white peas boiled 40 minutes, then simmered with potato and 3 tablespoons of tamarind pulp, topped with halved boiled eggs and onion. It should be tangier and spicier than an ordinary dal, so do not skimp on the tamarind and green chilli. 50 minutes, Medium.

Cold and quick

Chana chaat. 300 g (1.5 cups) of chickpeas tossed with onion, tomato, green chilli, coriander, lemon and chaat masala, and chilled 10 minutes. 30 minutes with dried chickpeas, or about 15 with tinned. Add the lemon juice just before serving, so the salad does not go watery.

Samosa chaat. 200 g (1 cup) of boiled chickpeas over crushed samosas, with onion, tomato, yogurt, tamarind water and chaat masala. Assemble just before serving so the samosas stay slightly crisp. 25 minutes for 3 people, Easy.

Dips and fritters

Hummus. 400 g (14 oz) of chickpeas, with 4 tablespoons of tahini, a lemon and 2 garlic cloves. 400 g (14 oz) is a standard tin. Blend the tahini, lemon, garlic and salt first for 1 minute, then add the warm chickpeas and drizzle in 3 to 5 tablespoons of ice-cold water until it turns light and fluffy. For a silkier result, simmer the chickpeas with half a teaspoon of baking soda for 15 minutes first. 25 minutes, Easy.

Falafel. 300 g (1.5 cups) of soaked, raw chickpeas pulsed with onion, garlic, coriander and mint, chilled for 20 minutes, shaped and deep-fried about 4 minutes. Pulse until finely ground but not pasty. The prep time on the card is 480 minutes, since almost all of it is soaking. 8 hours of soaking and 15 minutes of cooking, Medium.

A different pulse with a similar name

Split chickpea lentils (chana daal) are a separate product from whole chickpeas. They are used in chana daal and bottle gourd with split chickpea lentils. They are soaked for about 30 minutes, and cooked about 45 minutes. Do not mix them up in a recipe.

Soaking, cooking and storing

• Soak dried chickpeas for 8 hours or overnight in plenty of water. They roughly double in size.
• Cook them completely. Boil until one crushes easily between your fingers.
• Keep some cooking water. Our chana masala and chole both use it in the gravy.
• Salt: our chana masala recipe boils them with salt.
• Cooked chickpeas keep three to four days in the fridge in a covered container, like other leftovers, and freeze well in portions.
• Opened tins: do not store them in the tin. Move leftovers to a covered container, refrigerate, and use within three to four days.
• Dry chickpeas keep a long time in an airtight jar in a cool, dry cupboard. Very old ones may stay hard even after long cooking.
• Dishes with yogurt or eggs on top (samosa chaat, chotpoti) are best made fresh. Refrigerate leftovers within 2 hours.

Swaps

• Tinned for dried: our hummus recipe is written around 400 g (14 oz) of chickpeas, which is a standard tin. For the other recipes, the card says to skip the boiling step when using tinned. Rinse tinned chickpeas well first, and check the amount on the recipe page as you scale.
• No tahini for hummus? We have not tested a substitute. Smooth peanut butter is sometimes used, but the flavour is different and we would not call the result hummus.
• No tamarind for chotpoti? Lemon juice would be the nearest, but it is untested in our recipe.

Cook it with Degchi

Put chickpeas, onion, tomato and spices in your Degchi pantry, and the app lists the chickpea dishes you can cook right now. Each recipe page marks ingredients Have or Out. The app is free and in closed beta; join the beta if you would like to try it.

Questions

Do I need to soak chickpeas? For dried chickpeas, yes. Our recipes say 8 hours or overnight. Tinned chickpeas are already cooked.

Why are my chickpeas still hard after boiling? They may be very old, or the water may be very hard. Cook longer, or use a pressure cooker.

Can I use tinned chickpeas for falafel? Our recipe uses raw, soaked chickpeas, and we have not tested tinned ones. Cooked chickpeas make a softer mix that is more likely to fall apart in hot oil.

How much do dried chickpeas make? They swell a lot when soaked and cooked, roughly doubling in volume or more. We have not weighed ours before and after, so for tinned swaps use the recipe's own note and add the chickpeas a handful at a time.