Chickpea

A pulse that stays firm where others collapse, and one whose cooking water turned out to whip like egg white.

Where it comes from

Chickpeas were domesticated in south-eastern Turkey and spread across the Mediterranean, the Middle East and South Asia, where they are the single most important pulse. India grows and eats more of them than everywhere else combined.

Two types divide the world: the large pale kabuli chickpea of the Mediterranean and Middle East, and the small dark desi chickpea of South Asia, which is usually split and ground rather than cooked whole.

Varieties

• Kabuli — Large, round, pale. Hummus, salads, stews, and the chickpea most Western shops sell.
• Desi / kala chana — Small, dark, thicker-skinned, nuttier. Whole in curries, or split into chana dal.
• Gram flour / besan — Ground desi chickpea. Pakora and bhaji batter, socca, farinata, panisse.
• Green chickpeas — Fresh and immature, eaten as a vegetable.
• Aquafaba — The cooking or tinned liquid. Its dissolved proteins and starches whip to a stable foam and stand in for egg white in meringue and mayonnaise.

In the kitchen

For a smooth hummus, chickpeas need to be cooked far past what most recipes call tender — genuinely falling apart — and a pinch of bicarbonate of soda in the soaking and cooking water helps break the skins down. Skins are what make hummus grainy.

Gram flour must be cooked through; raw, it tastes chalky and bitter, and that is what a thin, quickly-fried batter leaves behind.

Chickpea is tagged on 124 dishes from 58 countries in the atlas. These notes are written from general knowledge and carry no per-fact citation — see About.