Last week I was going over to a friend’s house to cook so I decided to soak some chickpeas overnight and bring over a bag full. I couldn’t fill the whole bag, so tons were left over and I figured I’d cook them relatively soon.

Then I proceeded to have a very lazy Sunday and the chickpeas remained on my counter, alone and abandoned.

By Monday the chickpeas had grown tails and looked like mid-sized tadpoles.

Since I usually gobble up chickpeas, I had never seen this; I was flabbergasted. The metamorphous had practically happened right before my eyes.

Naturally, I stuck them in the fridge for a few more days, vowing to return to them later.

I came home from work tonight wanting a quick snack, looked in the fridge and found that the sprouted chickpeas were all I had. Their time had come. Now, of course, by this point they had even longer tails and I still didn’t know what to do. However, after a little research, I learned sprouted chickpeas are actually much healthier than cooked chickpeas, like all raw foods of course. But I had never thought of it; stupid…

Typically you soak the chickpeas overnight, as usual. Then you rinse and repeat until the sprout is the desired length. It just happened for me, so I skipped this part. Whether consumed raw or cooked, chickpeas are a great source of fiber, protein, carbs, etc. They are also low in calories and are quite filling. Cooking reduced the nutrients, of course, so obviously raw is the best way to go.

As far as the hummus goes, first I made tahini. It’s simple and can be made by throwing sesame seeds and oil in the food processor and blending until it’s rich and creamy.

Sprouted chickpea hummus

4 cups sprouted chickpeas

Juice of 2 lemons

4 tbsp tahini

4 cloves garlic

lots of cumin

salt to taste

2 JALAPEÑO peppers

1/4 cup of water

Blend all the ingredients together, serve with dipping vegetables. I’m actually still sitting on the floor eating my hummus with bell peppers.

More sprouting experiments to come…