Crushed Chickpeas with Chives

I found that on SP days one of the things I found most challenging was how I would replace the filling carby elements of my regular meals - the pasta, rice, cous-cous, quinoa and barley. However, I've found that this way of preparing chickpeas is tasty and filling and works really well with a range of different sauces. If you've any leftover (not often in this house) it can be moulded into patties when cold and then fried in a non-stick pan with a few sprays of spray oil for a tasty breakfast - especially nice when topped with poached eggs.

This recipe includes an egg yolk which is 'cooked' in the residual heat of the crushed chickpeas. For me this is as cooked as it would be if it were a poached egg or similar, but if you are someone who has been advised to avoid anything other than completely cooked through eggs, you could omit this and replace with some fat-free soft cheese from your Healthy Extra A allowance.

As with all recipes and meal plans on the blog I have highlighted the protein sources (P foods) in red, the speed (S) foods in green, healthy extra allowances in blue and syns, with syn values in brackets in orange. 

Crushed Chickpeas with Chives

Serves 3 - syn free

2 tins of chickpeas (these are reliably softer in texture to begin with)
2 tsp vegetable bouillon powder
1 egg yolk
Ground black pepper 
Handful of finely chopped chives

Drain both cans of chickpeas and put into a pan of water and sprinkle over the bouillon powder. Choose a pan that has a tight fitting lid.

Bring to the boil and then simmer for 20 minutes to soften the chickpeas further.

Test a chickpea by removing from the water and crushing with a fork. It should break very easily into a dry paste. If it is still fairly stiff, continue to simmer for another 10 mins.

Drain the chickpeas and return to the warm pan and crush with a potato masher - you are looking for most of the chickpeas to be broken down, but it has a nicer texture and more 'bite' if you leave some chunks remaining.

Add the egg yolk and black pepper to taste - I like loads! Beat the mixture well to ensure this is all combined.

Now add and blend in the chopped chives. I like to snip them with clean kitchen scissors for ease - you can do this over the pan right into the mixture, if you like!

Fit on the lid to the pan and leave for 5 minutes whilst you assemble the rest of your meal - this allows it to firm up a bit and the yolk to cook in the heat.

Serve with plenty of fresh veg and a sauce of your choice. This works well in place of potatoes with lashings of onion gravy as part of a Sunday lunch.