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I love chickpeas. LOVE them. I guess I haven't really written much about them here yet. That's because I had a complaint recently -- from my husband -- that I'm using chickpeas too much. So I've been trying to mix things up a bit. 

Well, my husband's away this weekend, and three of us were happy to eat some chickpeas again! We had them with the cream of vegetable soup last night, so I prepared as simply as possible: I roasted them.

Now, I'm pretty lazy with beans. I'm still mostly using canned beans. I suppose, since I've gotten in the habit of soaking cashews overnight, I could make the switch to dried beans. But, for now, this recipe uses canned beans.

I make my own ponzu sauce -- a deliciously tangy citrus-soy sauce. It's not exactly how they make it in Japan. I leave out the mirin and the bonito flakes. (Fish = not very vegan.) If you want to add mirin, use a quarter cup. Anyway, if you follow my recipe, you'll end up with two cups of ponzu sauce. You'll need just two tablespoons of ponzu for the chickpeas. Store the rest of the sauce in the fridge for up to a week. Or serve the chickpeas with rice, and pour some extra ponzu over the whole thing.

Ponzu-roasted chickpeas -- prep time: 2 hours for ponzu, 30 minutes for chickpeas; makes 3 side servings or 6 snack servings

Ingredients

2/3 cup lemon juice

1/3 cup lime juice

1 cup tamari (or high-quality soy sauce of your liking)

1/4 cup rice vinegar

1 tablespoon agave syrup

pinch dried seaweed (konbu is ideal, but I usually have nori around)

1 tablespoon coconut oil

1 can chickpeas

Directions

Combine lemon juice, lime juice, tamari, vinegar, agave and seaweed in a glass bowl. Let mixture sit for two hours or overnight then strain into a clean bowl.

Preheat oven to 400° F. Melt coconut oil. Combine coconut oil, chickpeas and 2 tablespoons of ponzu in a baking dish. Mix well to coat chickpeas. Bake for 20-25 minutes. Most liquid will be absorbed or evaporate. 

Personally, I love the ponzu sauce so much that I drizzle some over the roasted chickpeas. Really, the chickpeas are just an excuse to have ponzu!

By the way, if you wanted to make this at the last minute and don't want to wait for the ponzu sauce, here's a super-short-cut: combine chickpeas and coconut oil with 1 tablespoon lemon juice, 1 tablespoon tamari, 1/2 teaspoon ground coriander and 1/2 teaspoon agave syrup. Bake for 20-25 minutes and serve.

Enjoy!