Chickpeas

Pois chiches

What it is

Rome’s greatest orator, Cicero, owed his family name to the chickpea (cicer) — an ancestor supposedly had a chickpea-shaped wart, and he refused to change the name, promising to make it glorious instead. He did.

In the kitchen

Keep the cooking water: whipped, it foams like egg white. A tin of chickpeas plus sesame paste and lemon is a five-minute feast.

Goes with

Sesame Lemon Cumin Garlic Spinach Tomato

Same species

Black chickpea Chana dal Chickpea flour

Also used with

Amba Amchur Anardana Argan oil Honeycomb tripe Chaat masala

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