I was working in the food lab late one night, writing out my notes and dreaming about foreign lands and nature escapes, when hunger overcame me. Everything in the kitchen was put away, so I had to grab what was easily available and I was hungry so I knew I had to be able to make it fast. I found cooked garbanzo beans and tortillas.
I had made a big batch of cooked garbanzo beans. I like to make beans when I know I’m going to be home for a few hours. I set the pot on the stove on low heat while I do my dailies. Timers are set for checking and not forgetting about them. You can use canned garbanzos in this recipe, cooked fresh is always best and most economical.
The tortillas I had were not the 100% corn tortillas but were delicious imposters. The corn masa is mixed with wheat flour. Have you had them? Trader Joes and some natural food markets carry them. I really like them for a change because you get the deep grounding feeling the corn flour gives along with the softer texture and chew factor of the wheat flour. I think it’s a perfect combination. Gluten free people will have to use all corn tortillas. With either choice, aim for organic or at least non-GMO please as we can indeed change the world tortilla by tortilla. Oh if it were only that easy, cut certainly a good start.
Garbanzo beans, also known as chickpeas are the base ingredient in falafel, a popular Middle Eastern dish. For falafel the cooked chickpeas are ground up with spices and fried. Here I use just a couple of spices and sauteed and mashed them. They look like ground chicken when done, so if you had a taco bar party you could label it Ground Chiken, just to throw people off and watch them enjoy a vegan meal without knowing. Do this only of course if you are inviting people still afraid to try a meal without animal meat and you have a bit of a devious but harmless, fun nature. 🙂
Lastly toppings are whatever you have on hand. I had Persian cucumbers. They always have the perfect crunch and sweetness. Avocado makes them taco up and radishes snap back at you. A sprinkling of some Maldon salt crystals on top of the veggies melt in and accentuate the flavors. Lebanese lemon garlic sauce, also known and toum was the perfect topper as it goes well with chickpeas and veggies and made a nice finish to the dish.
Time to chow! Shall we try?
Muhammara
Serves 3-4 ~ Prep Time: 10 minutes ~ Cook Time: 5 minutes ~ Total Time: 15 minutes
Equipment
knife, two skillets, potato masher, spoon
Gather Your Ingredients
~ 1 ea. garlic clove, minced
Let’s Cook!
- Put the minced garlic and olive oil in a skillet and turn heat to medium low and let simmer until garlic just begins to brown, then add the chickpeas.
- Add the sumac, salt and pepper and smash with potato masher directly in skillet while heating.
- When garbanzos are mashed, remove from heat.
- Put a dry skillet over medium heat on stop or heat a flat top griddle to 350 and warm the tortillas on both sides.
- Fill with mashed garbanzos and top with radish, cucumber and avocado.
- Sprinkle with salt crystals and top with garlic sauce. A squeeze of lemon or lime wedge is a nice touch if you have it.
