Chickpeas: Sweet and Savory Recipes from Hummus to Dessert Hardcover – February 2, 2016

Update 2: 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. So weird that the option for baking soda was not discussed. Also, I truly wish that she had recommended the amount of salt and black pepper that she uses, in order to have a baseline. And weights would have been desirable. I mean, what is her “1 large eggplant”? How large? Or, “1 cauliflower?”Update 3: If you can find the smaller chickpeas such as are shown in the photo, you’ll thank me. They turned out so creamy, even without the skin removed. But I always remove the skin (1 tsp baking soda per 2 cups dried chickpeas in 4-5 quarts water).Update 4: I tried the falafel recipe today, and, although it may be authentic to certain regions, I found that for my personal taste, it was too much cumin and too much garlic. Here is a falafel recipe that I have used for many years that my (personal) taste finds more enjoyable. 1 cup dried chickpeas, soaked in water for 24 hours, 3 green onions, 1/2 cup packed parsley sprigs, 2 garlic cloves (or less if you find the garlic flavor is too much), 1 egg, 1/2 teaspoon ground cumin (or 1/4 for less cumin-y flavor profile), 1/2 teaspoon baking soda, about 1/4 teaspoon salt and pepper, or, to taste.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? Had to be a typo (thus, 4 1/2 inches lol) 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 1: 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:-)”

With my older daughter a recent vegetarian, 'Chickpeas' is a timely addition to my shelves. I am very excited to learn more recipes that we can share. Chickpeas are a great addition to anyone's repertoire, being full of essential nutrients and a decent source of protein. They can be used whole, pureed, or as a flour. Einat Mazor has collected a ton of great recipes utilizing chickpeas in their many forms, from Classic Hummus to Carrot Cake with Cream Cheese Frosting. The Moroccan Soup with Pita Chips looks delicious and I am sure that I will be making the Veggie Burger and the Meatballs with Fresh Beans with my daughters!

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.

When I received my kindle pre-order I was really excited to look through the book and try some recipes, but the layout of the kindle version is HORRIBLE, it's worse than reading a pdf book. It didn't fill the whole screen, it had no links, and did this weird picture in picture thing when I touched a text area. I buy A LOT of digital cookbooks through Amazon, and I've never run across this problem before. I would love to have a working copy of this book. As it is now, it's unreadable, so I had to return it for refund.

IF you want a CHICKPEA cookbook, this is IT! Delicious photos, easy to read recipes, common ingredients that are wonderfully blended. These recipes are clean, vegetarian and often gluten free goodies! I cannot wait to see more books from Einat and her photographer, Oded. Buy for yourself and for healthy gifts! You will not regret it.