What is a snack? For some it’s a handful of nuts after yoga. For others it’s carrots with hummus before an exam. Perhaps it’s a mid-morning apple, to keep you from eating three of the Krispy Kremes that your “friendly” coworker left in the kitchen. To me, a snack connotes a small amount of food that gives you a reason to exist between meals.
While snacks have their place, what I prefer is snacking. The gerund form takes snack from something consumed by well-adjusted adults to something discouraged by nutritionists. Snacking happens straight from the bag. Snacking means restocking during commercial breaks. Snacking involves the continual motion from bowl to mouth until you abruptly hit the cold, empty bottom. Snacking is an activity as much as it is a meal, and it’s magnificent.
With this in mind, if you want a snack make only one can of these spicy roasted chickpeas. If you plan on snacking, make two.
Ingredients:
- 1 can of chick peas
- 2 tablespoons of soy sauce
- 1 teaspoon – 1 tablespoon of hot sauce (sriracha is my favorite for this)
- 1 tablespoon of chili powder
- 1 tablespoon of paprika
First things first, preheat your oven to 400 degrees and drain and rinse your chick peas.
Prepare your ingredients for the topping.
I ran out of sriracha and as in every other post, my local store didn’t have any in stock. I probably should shop somewhere else.
Put all of the ingredients in a bowl and mix them up. The amount of chili powder and hot sauce will of course determine the spice level, and like most things in life, you can handle more than you realize.
Pour the beans onto a foil-lined baking sheet.
Bake for 20-30 minutes. You will probably get scared that your little garbanzo beans are turning to pebbles, but they aren’t! The outside will get crispy and the insides will stay soft.
Now it’s time for snacking. These babies are best straight out of the oven and they are worth a few burnt fingers. If you let the roasted chickpeas sit out for too long they become chewy as opposed to crispy. They’re still good, but they are lacking that special something that comes from being 400 degrees.
Enjoy!
P.S.
Here is a picture of the Krispy Kremes that were in my office this morning. There were also organic Oreos.
My apple has gone uneaten.
