Tag: chickpeas

Delicious meatballs and croquettes: let's do it with chickpeas! – Italian Cuisine

Cooked and smoothies, these legumes are excellent for preparing meatballs and croquettes to serve as an aperitif or second course

Meat, fish, vegetables and more: le meatballs can also be done with legumes. Take the chickpeas, for example: once cooked and smoothies they reach that perfect consistency to be worked with the hands up to model a perfect ball, good, but also rich in vegetable protein and fiber.

Aperitif or second

The chickpea balls, but also the croquettes, I am the perfect idea for theappetizer: if you have vegetarians among the guests, combine them only with vegetables. Also imagine how second dish if there are children who are struggling to eat legumes. They can be combined with meat and potatoes to make them even tastier. You can then have fun preparing sauces and creams to dip into.

Chickpea meatballs and croquettes: 5 ideas

Our recipes? Discover them in the gallery above: Chickpea and potato croquettes with lamb's lettuce, chickpea and beef croquettes with yoghurt with herbs, chickpea croquettes with cashew pest and chard, chickpea balls on pea cream, lamb meatballs and rosemary chickpeas. Which one inspires you the most?

10 meatballs for every occasion

Browse the gallery

From sweet hummus to three desserts with chickpeas: recipes – Italian Cuisine

A cocoa version of Middle Eastern sauce and more. Did you know that you can make lots of sweets with chickpeas?

Yes, you read that right, let's talk about it sweet hummus, that is, one cream based on chickpeas and cocoa that we are sure will revolutionize your idea of dessert.
Easy to prepare and super healthy, this cream to spread and eat spoon will become your favorite sweet treat.

Hummus: the basics

Hummus, for those who still do not know, is one Middle Eastern sauce based on chickpeas, tahina and lemon juice.
Many love to enrich it with other ingredients such as beetroot, lentils or avocado to transform this light and tasty recipe and accompany it to many dishes.
With the hummus you can fill a sandwich, you can accompany the vegetable balls or the classic falafel always made with chickpeas and you can also serve with a raw vegetables or a gardener.
But the sweet hummus is what?

Variants of the hummus

Browse the gallery

Recipe of sweet hummus

To prepare this sort of cocoa mousse you simply have to blend 250 g of cooked and well washed chickpeas with 120 g of maple syrup, 3 tablespoons of vegetable milk or water, 20 g of bitter cocoa, 2 tablespoons of almond or tahini cream, a teaspoon of vanilla extract and a pinch of cinnamon.
Once you have prepared the cream, which must be very soft and velvety and should not have lumps, you can enrich it with some grains of hazelnuts and pistachios or with drops of dark chocolate, or with both.

Hummus but not only: three sweet recipes with chickpeas

Chickpea biscuits
Perhaps not everyone knows that with the chickpeas you can prepare a delicious and very light pastry.
Just mix together 200 g of boiled chickpeas, 150 of almond flour, 30 g of brown rice flour, 100 g of rice malt, 30 g of corn oil and 50 g of apple juice.
Once the mixture is ready, you can use it as a base for a tart or to make biscuits.

Chickpea cake
With the chickpea flour you can prepare a delicious breakfast cake for a snack of the whole family.
Mix well 80 g of chickpea flour with 250 g of water and add 20 g of brown sugar, 25 g of bitter cocoa, 60 g of peanut oil and a sachet of baking powder. Spread in a buttered cake tin and bake at 180 degrees for 35 minutes.

Frolle filled with chickpeas
These are filled sweets, like ravioli, a little 'more calories than the previous, but really very tasty.
For the pastry work 500 g of 00 flour with 200 g of sugar, 180 g of soft butter, 1 whole egg + 2 egg yolks and the grated rind of a lemon.
Roll it out not too thin and cut it out with a glass.
Put in the center of each circle a filling made by chopping 300 g of cooked chickpeas, 3 tablespoons of bitter cocoa, 100 g of sugar and a little anise liqueur.
Close sealing the ends well with a fork and cook at 180 degrees for 20 minutes.

Chickpeas and inspirations

Are you curious to discover other very original sweet recipes based on chickpeas and more? Read our article on Legumes Desserts.

Remember also that the chickpea preservation water is almost magical and is used to prepare many recipes. Do not throw it away!
From mayonnaise to pancakes here are 5 recipes with aquafaba.

Browse now our gallery for more tips to taste the sweet hummus and use chickpeas in an alternative way!

Do chickpeas make you fat? – The Italian kitchen – Italian Cuisine

How many calories do they have? Can they be consumed on a diet? Here's how to eat them to lose weight

Delicious and versatile, chickpeas are excellent in the kitchen. They can be prepared in many ways and used in a variety of recipes: soups, soups, cream, salads, meatballs and puree like hummus. From a nutritional point of view, then, they are a mine of beneficial substances allied to health. Yet, often when you want to lose a few extra pounds you tend to exclude them from the menus, with the belief that they make you fat. But is it really like that? Let's find out with the help of nutritionist Nicoletta Bocchino.

That's why chickpeas are good

The chickpeas are excellent allies of the weight. «They have an excellent diuretic action: they make fibers, which favor the regularity of the intestine. They are, then, a good source of B vitamins. In particular, they are rich in Vitamin B3 and B9, useful for metabolism, the mechanism that causes calories to burn. Moreover, even if they contain high amounts of carbohydrates, because of the abundance of fibers they contain and which allow a slower absorption of sugars and a prolongation of the sense of satiety. Moreover, they are a concentrate of minerals useful for the proper functioning of the organism. They contain, for example, calcium, indispensable for bone health, magnesium, selenium and zinc, which are precious for the nervous system and iron, which helps to combat tiredness, "explains Dr. Nicoletta Bocchino, a nutritionist biologist. "Then they bring tryptophan, an amino acid that promotes good humor".

How to eat them

One hundred grams of cooked dry chickpeas bring about 150 calories. "To take stock of their virtues for the benefit of the line, the advice is to eat them two or three times a week. Fresh chickpeas have fewer calories, but they are not consumed frequently so buckets are preferred. Although the latter are richer in protein and minerals, they are more caloric and have less water and vitamins, due to the drying process, "suggests the nutritionist Bocchino. «If you choose to use buckets it is better to limit their consumption to a portion of 50-70 grams, while if you choose fresh 150 grams suggests the expert.

How to combine them at the table

Chickpeas are a good source of vegetable protein. «Even if the latter are incomplete compared to those of meat, fish, cheese and eggs, just eat them in the same meal together with carbohydrates for example pasta or whole grains to get proteins of high biological value, useful for putting on lean mass Suggests the nutritionist Bocchino. Better to avoid combining them in the same meal with meat, fish, eggs and dairy products. «The risk is to exaggerate with proteins suggests the expert.
Would you like to know more? Discover the other benefits of chickpeas in the gallery.