I’ve been eating clean for the past week or so. No processed foods, no sugar, no red meat, no gluten, and no fried foods. I know. It sounds like a party. 😛 It’s actually not too bad. I don’t crave sweets (except for dark chocolate). I don’t crave anything really, except for french fries. French Fries are my biggest weakness. I would seriously knock an old lady down to get to the last fry in the room.
You’d think this would create problems during my “cleanse/detox.” Nope. A while ago, I found a perfect, healthy alternative to my fry addiction – chickpea fries. I first tried chickpea fries or garbanzo bean fries when Peacefood Cafe in NYC first opened. I didn’t expect much when I ordered it. For one, I’m not crazy about baked goods made with chickpea flour, but mostly because french fries are my thing. Nothing can compete with that right? Wrong. I was pleasantly surprised by the taste and the texture of it: a crispy thin layer on the outside with a soft, potato-like, “meat” in the inside.
I usually add some cumin or garlic powder to the flour for the extra flavor. But that is completely optional. This time, I also added some slowly-simmered garlic flakes in oil. Unbelievably delicious! Added bonus: the aroma of slowly-simmered garlic wafting through your home is absolutely heavenly.
Chickpea/Garbanzo Bean Fries with Parsley Garlic Flakes Recipe
Ingredients
2 cups water
1 tsp sea salt
1 tsp freshly ground black pepper
1/4 cup extra-virgin olive oil or canola oil
1 1/2 cups chickpea flour or garbanzo Bean flour
cumin and/or garlic powder (totally optional)
2 small cloves garlic, chopped
1-2 tsp parsley, chopped
canola or grapeseed oil for baking/cooking
- Prepare a 9″ x 9″ pan with parchment paper by creating a “sling.”
- Add water, salt, pepper, and 1/4 cup of oil to a pot or a deep pan. Bring the contents almost to a boil. While the contents are simmering, gradually add the flour while constantly whisking. Add a few shakes of cumin and garlic powder if using. Whisk just until the lumps are almost dissolved. Remove from heat immediately and transfer the contents to the prepared pan. Smooth out the mixture using a flat spatula. If necessary, smooth it out using your hands with parchment or wax paper on top of the mixture. Refrigerate for at least 3 hours until the mixture becomes hard enough to cut. You can refrigerate the mixture overnight.
- Preheat the oven 425 degrees. Prepare a baking sheet/pan with parchment paper. Take the chickpea dough from the refrigerator. Pull out the dough by pulling on the parchment paper. Cut them into thick fries. Transfer the fries on to the prepared baking sheet. Brush or spray the fries with canola or grapeseed oil on both sides. Bakes for about 25 minutes. Turn them over once halfway through baking when the bottom of the fries turn golden brown. Remove from heat once the other side becomes golden brown.
- While the fries are baking, heat a small saucepan over medium heat. Add 1-2 TB of canola, grapeseed, or olive oil into the pan. Add chopped garlic to the oil and lower the heat to simmer. Allow the garlic to simmer for at least 10 minutes, making sure the heat is low enough to prevent burning. Once the garlic turns golden, remove from heat and stir in the parsley. Serve warm with garlic parsley drizzle, and ketchup or aïoli if desired.
Cook’s Note:
You can create a “sling” just leave some parchment paper hanging on two sides. It will be easier to pull out the dough later.
It is important to transfer the dough to the prepared pan immediately once it’s removed from heat. If not, the dough will start to harden, and it will be difficult to smooth it out completely. Truthfully, the ones in the pictures above are not as smooth as it could be, because I attempted to take pictures of the dough before transferring it to the pan. 😛
I made mine with canola oil, because I’m not too crazy about cooking with olive oil. I prefer very neutral oils.
Chickpea fries are delicious on their own even without the parsley garlic flakes. You can dip them in ketchup, aïoli, yogurt sauce, tahini, or whatever condiment you’d like.
Lol I admire your discipline! How do you even do that? Cutting out all the things you’ve cut out..I’d be miserable and grumpy all day lol. You go, gomo! Do you live in ny btw? These look so yum. I can just imagine how delicious they smell.
Thank you Miss Kim! There’s really not much discipline involved. I eat everything I want, except for french fries. No big deal. Luckily, I don’t have a sweet tooth. And it will be over in a few days. 🙂 Yes, I’m in NY. And you should definitely try these. You’ll be surprised how yummy they are!
Oh I’ve got to try this fries and I have a bag of chickpea flour after trying socca recipe. Thanks for introducing this. Actually eating clean is a lot of fun, we get to learn new recipe and ingredients. I havent gone on detox for a while, time to do it again
I agree. It’s not that difficult to eat clean or “detox.” There are so many yummy things out there that are also healthy. I’m excited for you to try these. Let me know how you like them if you do. Hope you are well Shannon! 😀
Congrats with the clean eating program! Always a good thing to do from time to time. I’ve not heard of chickpea fries before – brilliant idea! I really like this – thanks so much.
Thanks John! I feel so much better than I did a couple of weeks ago, that’s for sure. You must try these. Even my husband, who is a burger and fries guy, LOVED these. 🙂
I haven’t had sugar for 2 weeks and I was going along just fine on wheat until I made a loaf of garlic and onion bread yesterday for my husband that smelled so good that I pinched off one small piece and ate it. I felt like I had sinned. 🙂 I love your chickpea fries!
Thank you Maureen! I wouldn’t be able to resist garlic and onion bread either. Right now, I’m trying to keep my margarita consumption to a glass or two. Kind of difficult on Cinco de Mayo. 😀 Happy Sunday to you and your husband!
I have a soft spot for French fries too! It’s irresistible. But I’m so glad to hear you found an alternative! It looks crispy and feels like I can smell the garlic scent through the monitor. 🙂 Um Yum!!
Thanks Sue! Truthfully, I don’t think I can go without french fries without these chickpea fries. I have a total addiction to fries. 😀 Hope you had a great weekend!
What self control! I could cut out the beef, the gluten and the fried foods, but sugar would be hard for me. I have a horrendous sweettooth! 🙂 These “fries” look delicious and sound even more delicious with the slow simmered garlic! YUM! and yes – roasted garlic on the stovetop or in the oven really makes the house smell wonderful!
Believe me. It’s not a lot of self-control. Besides dark chocolate, I don’t have a sweet tooth at all! I know I’m a total freak of nature. 😀 Fried foods and carbs are another story. Thankfully, these fries satisfy both of those cravings. Thanks for your sweet comment MJ. Hope you had a fun Cinco de Mayo!
Kudos on the clean eating! I’ve been wanting to try this for a while (if only for a quick detox!) I’ll definitely be coming to your blog for inspiration on what to eat!:-)
Thanks Jess! I think it’s beneficial even if it’s just for the weekend. I like smaller, not so strict, goals anyway. All of my loftier New Year’s resolutions went out the window by week 2. 🙂 Hope you are well!
Love chickpea fries! Plus, the chickpeas give you more protein, and so you can tell yourself they’re way better than regular French fries. Well, I tell myself that, at least. LOL
Aren’t they great? I tell myself the same thing. Factually, that’s accurate! 😀 This is definitely one of my snacks of the moment.
These look delicious! I’m always looking for more healthy treats, and since I love everything spelled chickpea and hummus, these would be perfect!
Thanks Yvonne! I am partial to chickpeas myself. I tend to throw them in everything. 😀 I hope you give them a try!
Chickpea fries – that’s quite creative! And yummy!
Thanks Julia! They were quite yummy. 🙂
You must have read my mind! I just pressure cooked a large portion of chickpeas and this recipe come just in time! They look so tempting!
Thanks Angie! These were super delicious. But you should use garbanzo bean flour, instead of cooked garbanzos. I wouldn’t want you to waste them. 😀 My next post, however, uses garbanzos. They are quite tasty as well. Hope you have a great weekend!
Wow, a mouthwatering recipe
Thank you Viswa 🙂
I have weak spots for sweets, carbs, and some salty food (should I just say all the food?!). Such a creative recipe – chickpea fries! I love fried foods too. Garlic flavor makes it even more addicting! I better have good self control over food but I don’t… You inspired me!
Thanks Nami! The garlic really take it over the top. Love these things. Hope you had a great Mother’s Day weekend with the fam!
Very interesting…now you are giving me two ideas for chickpeas. I am weak around all the food, especially fried-but have been working out every day, and my hubby turned into drill Sargent-I will soon dance around the fire and beg for the rain so i don’t have to hike, up and down the big hills hahaha
Great recipe…will try this too!
I can’t begin to tell you how much I hate working out. You’re lucky you have your hubby to motivate you. I got myself a personal trainer last year with the hope that it will force me to work out. Even that didn’t work! Tell you hubs to give you a few days of break. You can enjoy these fries while lounging on a sofa (while he looks after the kids). 😀
It’s interesting to see chic peas in the form of fries. It seems like it would go well with garlic and parsley. Great post.
Hi. This recipe sounds really good. One thing though – ditch the canola oil. Way high in transfat, made from an altered toxic plant that is naturally high in omgea 3’s (rape seed). The refining process changes the O 3’s to transfats. The refiners don’t want you to know this, so they hide it by altering the serving size. Canola oil causes cell death. I recommend reading The Science of Skinny by Dee McCaffery. She’s awesome! She’s a chemist that used to work for the EPA. If you are going to go through the effort of cleansing and the discipline of eating clean – you gotta watch your oils too. Thanks for sharing, best wishes and good luck.
Thanks Alisha! I too have a chemistry degree and have worked in the field. And I’m all too aware of the faults of canola oil (most oils for that matter). But it is the lesser of all evils for us. It is primarily a monounsaturated fat; thus, is healthier than saturated fats (excepting coconut oil according to some studies). The other oils that I would consider using are too high in omega-6’s and/or incompatible with my all-too-sensitive digestive system.
So expeller-pressed, organic canola oil has proven to be the best out of the lot for high-heat baking or cooking for us. Besides, we use very little oil in our daily lives that it’s pretty negligible. Most of our fats come from seeds, nuts, and other whole-food plant sources. Hope you are having a great start to the week!!