Chickpeas: Sweet and Savory Recipes from Hummus to Dessert Kindle Edition

Update 1: I find that I am really enjoying cooking the savory dishes/recipes from the book. I still modify the recipe for cooking the chickpeas by adding baking soda in order to get creamier hummus by removing the skin of the chickpeas and I recommend doing this step that was not discussed in the book.Original post: I'm far enough along with my cooking skills that I can look at a recipe and kind of know what it will taste like. It's kind of like learning a foreign language. After years of cooking, one does pick up a knack or "feel" for whether a recipe will be good, just by reviewing the ingredients list. But although I have a gut feeling that I'm going to enjoy cooking from this book, I have had issues with them.First, and this is more of a heads up because I truly in my heart of hearts believe that there is a significant step that should have been in the book, as a sidebar option as a minimum, that the way to make creamier hummus is to add a teaspoon of baking soda to the water for the final boil to soften, after soaking the chickpeas overnight. Then, after the chickpeas are cooled, one goes in with a spoon or fingers and removes the outer chickpea skin. That's a classic method and, as far as I can tell, shows up nowhere in the book.Next, respect to the chickpea carrot cake recipe on page 117, it calls for the cake to be made in 14 1/2 x 8 1/2 loaf pan. That had me scratching my head because a loaf pan is 8 1/2 or 9 inches by 4 1/2 inches. Was this a typo? Was this calling for some type of commercial loaf pan, one that didn't present itself when I typed those measurements into Amazon's search? By the way, the carrot cake was very tasty, though, to make it moister, I switched to oil instead of butter. Butter is about 30% water so I adjusted the oil content down. The 20 minute bake time is completely off (I did a second cake with butter per the recipe). It is looking like it might be as much as 45 minutes. The second go round with butter didn’t work out for me. Again, the time is off. And the cake was a wet mess that I ended up throwing out. Was it a question of insufficient flour? Because she didn’t give chick pea or flour weights to use, I went with a standard scoop and level method. I declare this a bad recipe.But I do suspect that her savory recipes in the book will be very good. We shall see.As of today, those are my comments. I will be trying other recipes and updating as time goes on. Several of them look really good.Update: Einat Mazor was kind enough to respond to my first question on baking soda. I had sent her a clarification request.“ Hi Jay,Thank you so much for your purchase! It means a lot to me as an author especially these days.You can certainly use baking soda (I don't find it too helpful). If the outer shell/ skin bothering you, then remove it. That is fine!!I hope you will like this cookbook! and use it a lot in your kitchen:-)”

What we have with Chickpeas is a beautifully presented cookbook with a very sophisticated list of recipes. Neither health nor vegetarian oriented (though recognizing both within), this is designed to provide a variety of uses for the chickpea - some exotic, others variations on a theme (e.g., hummus), but all quite interesting and well presented. Yes, this is definitely a cookbook for those who like to cook and explore - it has some of the most original/interesting recipes I've come across in the past several years and crosses many cultures.The book breaks down as follows: Introduction; Spreads and Snacks; Soups and Salads; Entrees; and Baked Treats. The recipes are diverse: vegetable muffins, baked cauliflower patties, Thai chicken, Mediterranean beef stew, pasta bolognese, baba ganousch, stuffed grape leaves, tabbouleh salad, miso & chickpea soup, Moroccan soup with pita chips, etc. Some of the recipes call for whole chickpeas, some for blended, and others for flour. Note that a food processor is a must for a chunk of the book.Each recipe is beautifully presented and easy to follow: a multicolor page with title, introduction, vegetarian and gluten Free icons (if applicable), ingredients (in italics to stand out), serving size, and preparation/cooking info in simple numbered form. It's exactly what one wants to see in a recipe to make it easy to follow and use. Many, but not all, have a full page photograph afterwards.What struck me most about the recipes is the sheer depth. There were only a couple items (e.g., hummus) that I was fairly familiar with; most were quite new dishes that look to be fun to explore as I go through the recipes. But of note is that there are also a lot of ingredients that probably are not in the standard North American pantry. So they do require planning ahead and a bit of a search for the rarer items at specialty stores.The recipes look solid and are easy to follow. Nothing feels experimental here or someone trying too hard to find a random use for chickpeas in order to fill out the book. A beautiful presentation also goes a long way toward making this a delightful cookbook to explore. Reviewed from an advance reader copy provided by the publisher.

SUMMARY: This is a cookbook that shows you ways to prepare chickpeas in a variety of delicious and nutritious ways from appetizers to soups and everything in between and ending with desserts. There are some old favorites here such as hummus and crunchy chickpea snacks. But there are also plenty of new and creative recipes including oldies dressed up in new styles such as beet hummus and guacamole hummus. There are lots of beautiful, mouth watering pictures along the way to inspire you.REVIEW: I must say, this book made me hungry! I am an occasional fan of chickpeas in salads and I use chickpea flour to make gluten free wraps. But I was inspired by many of the recipes in this book. They made chickpeas look like a fruit of the gods! Some of the more intriguing recipes for my palate are: cauliflower pakora, chickpea and green bean soup, socca pizza and chocolate brownies with ganache. There are more goodies in the book, but too many to list. If you like chickpeas or are a vegan or vegetarian, I highly recommend you give this book a try for variety in your diet. NOTE: This book does have some meat recipes in it so it is not completely vegetarian or vegan.NOTE: I received a free arc of this book from NetGalley and the publisher in exchange for an honest review.