Chickpea - a type of bean is grown mainly in tropical and subtropical Asia. This is a common food that should find a place in your kitchen. Unlike the "native" legumes like beans, it is more lenient to the stomach and intestines and causes unpleasant consequences. Chickpea has a lot of use cases. From it cook soups, salads and mash. Appreciate it and vegetarian cooking, where legumes are traditionally eaten as a main source of protein.

Chickpeas contain about 50-60% carbohydrate, 20-30% protein, 7% fat, and about 12% of other substances - essential amino acid lysine, vitamins B1, B6, folic acid, and minerals (phosphorus, potassium, magnesium, manganese, ).

In chickpea it has only one drawback - it is not a "spontaneous" product. Its preparation should be preceded by pre-soaking. And then a couple of hours is not enough. Ideally you should plan everything before, and soak it in cold water overnight. Some recipes suggest soaking for 24 hours. And in the morning you are ready to cook. So, to begin with a very simple and healthy salad.

Salad

You will need:

• cup dry chickpeas
• 1 red onion
• 2 tbsp. tablespoons of lemon or pomegranate juice
• Cumin, coriander, red pepper - all to grind
• Salt

Preparation:

Soak chickpeas, as mentioned above. In the morning (or later) to shift into a saucepan, cover with cold water. Boil. Cook over low heat for about two hours, until tender. Note, it should be soft inside and outside remain intact. So do not wait until the contents of the pan will turn to mush - turn. And drain the cool.

Onion cut into thin half-rings. Pour the sour juice. Let stand a few minutes. The chickpeas ready to pour salt and spices, add the onion. Mix well. And you can start your meal! Serve this salad with meat would be excessive, because it is itself - a storehouse of protein. And in general, it is absolutely a complete meal for a second breakfast or lunch.

And for dinner, you can cook a delicious hearty soup.

Broth

Ingredients:

• 1 cup dried chickpeas
• 2 potatoes
• 2-3 tablespoons rice (optional)
• 1 large onion
• 2 tbsp. tablespoons of tomato paste
• Curcuma
• Grated fresh ginger 1 tbsp
• Kumin
• Coriander
• Salt

Preparation:

Chickpeas soaked the previous day (the sooner the better) .  The next day we take the pot on 2, 5-3 liters .  Laying to order swollen chickpeas, fill with water and set on fire .  After boiling, reduce heat to low and cook .  Long .  Hour and a half .  Salt is best to add during this period, because then it will not have time to soak .  When the chickpeas become soft enough, add to the pan sliced ​​raw potatoes .  At this point fans thicker soups can add rice .  At the same time the pan warm up vegetable oil .  In hot oil, put the cumin, coriander, turmeric .  We wait until the spices begin to exude the flavor, add the grated ginger, followed - finely chopped onion .  Lightly fry and add the tomato paste .  Simmer a few minutes to the onions become soft .  Adding "zazharku" in a pot of soup .  Cook a few minutes to all the flavors mixed .  We try, adjust salt if necessary .  When the rice and potatoes are ready, the soup can be turned off .

Cumin, coriander, turmeric and ginger helps digestion. Therefore, add them to the dish of beans is very appropriate.

Similarly, you can cook a meal, and for the second. Soaked and boiled chickpea sauce to fill two or three cups of chopped tomatoes and spinach, braised with spices. Perhaps the combination of red and green food output is not very familiar, but the taste is definitely not affected.

Soup and salad "ability" are not limited to this product. Dish, which certainly should appeal to the younger generation - this is an unusual popcorn.

Popcorn

Necessary:

• 2 cups unsalted boiled chickpeas
• Salt and spices (powdered sugar or cinnamon)

Preparation:

The dried and fully cooked chickpeas roll in spices with salt (optional for adults) or in powdered sugar with cinnamon - for children. It is important that the peas were just dry. Otherwise, then, when you send it in the oven on a baking sheet, it can start to stew. And we need to continue to dry out and bake. So we Preheat the oven to 180 degrees and go there chickpeas, pour out on a baking sheet in a single layer. During the 30-40 minutes he was there to "sunbathing." Well, if the oven with convection. If not, from time to time have to stir. Properly prepared "popcorn" should be crispy and the inside is blank. Will like a great snack to beer in the acute form, and as a useful treat for the kids - in a sweet.

Chickpeas is also the main ingredient in the traditional dishes of the Middle East - falafel. This balls mashed chickpeas with herbs, fried in vegetable oil. Preparing a falafel. Glass ready chickpeas ground into a puree, add to it a few tablespoons of flour and spices (pepper, cumin, garlic, chopped onion, cumin), salt and form from the resulting dough balls the size of a walnut. Preheat oil in deep fat and fry falafel for 6-8 minutes until golden brown. It is served with sauces, yogurt, vegetables and pita bread.

Once you try chickpeas, he settled in your kitchen forever. You can add it to the soup with meat or chicken broth. There containing chickpeas recipes shurpa and pilaf. in short, the flight culinary imagination is not limited. And most importantly - it will be with health benefits!

The reason why most Asian cuisines experiencing weakness for spices, is clear: poor food storage climate forcing to take action to make them safer for consumption through the use of hot spices with antiseptic and antibacterial properties.

The basis of Thai cuisine - it is rice. The famous Thai rice, jasmine, - one of the most fragrant and delicious. The high esteem in Thailand, fish and seafood, as well as coconut milk. Thailand - predominantly Buddhist country, so there are no such restrictions on the use of any meat in neighboring India, where Hindus, or Muslim Malaysia and Indonesia. Thai - diverse composition of foods and tastes. It can not be imagined without spices such as ginger, chilli, coriander, lemon grass, mint and basil. In addition to the different types of popular rice noodles: rice, egg noodles from flour and noodles made from mung beans.

An important attribute of cooking Thai food - a wok. Wok dietichnymi products are more, less fat. This is achieved thanks to the fact that all the products are concentrated in the center of the pan, the liquid is evaporated slowly and therefore requires less oil or fat. Meals are prepared in a wok over high heat in a fast pace, with continuous stirring. On the one hand, this allows to save time. On the other - to keep more vitamins in products, reducing the cooking process.

Recipes Thai cuisine today are increasingly popular, as, indeed, and other Asian cuisines. The emergence of specialty shops with products from Asia enhances lovers gastronomic experiments. Now you can impress the home unusual flavors and healthy dishes. Attack?

Khao Phat (fried rice)

Generally fried rice - a traditional dish that you will meet in Thailand at every step. And each time, he is likely to be slightly different. By fried rice assumed a variety of additives: chicken, pork, seafood, beef ... And a lot of spices.
We will prepare the basic version.

You need:

• Cooked rice
• Garlic - 2-3 cloves
• 1 chili
• 1 onion
• 1 fresh tomato
• 1 tbsp fish and soy sauce
• Additives to the rice: fried chicken, pork, shrimp, pineapple pieces - all at your choice.

Cook rice in advance. Take a variety of jasmine, which predominantly uses and Thai cuisine. Thoroughly wash (actually thoroughly without sparing water and hands). Fill the rice with boiling water at the rate of one and a half glasses of water per 200 grams of rice. Bring to a boil, cover with a tight lid and cook on low heat for 13 minutes. Switch off, leave to infuse for 10 minutes. In general, the ideal rice for this dish is to infuse and cool. The more - the better. Will even yesterday.

In a wok heat the oil. Fry the garlic, chilli, finely chopped onions. Do not forget to constantly interfere. Add the chopped tomatoes. Pour soy and fish sauce. After two minutes, add the rice. Fry for a minute. Serve sprinkled with coriander.

Before laying the rice to the pan, you can add other ingredients: sweet peppers, chopped and fried chicken in advance or pork, pineapple, cooked shrimp, or just pour one or two raw eggs and mix. And then add the rice.

Generally, the ingredients can be many, that is, you can safely mix and chicken and shrimp, pineapple, mushrooms, oyster mushrooms. And you can do any one.

Do not be surprised that there is salt in the recipe - it performs the role of soy sauce. But you can add a little sugar. Especially if pineapple greedy.

Thai fish sauce - the most specific ingredient here. If not, and you can do without it. Especially because of those who are aware of how he prepares, not everyone dares to try it. But more about that another time ...

Again, the recipe of fried rice, Thai cuisine has set. As in the case of Russian borsch, each housewife certainly has its tricks and ideas. So you and no one bothers to show imagination ...

Another classic dish, the business card of Thailand is Thai fish soup Tom Yam.

Tom Yum Soup

For the soup:

• Chicken broth - 2 cups
• Coconut milk - 1stakan Raw prawns (peeled) - 450 g
• Lime leaves -2 pcs., Cut
• Lemon sorgo- 5 cm (replaced by lime zest of one lemon or half)
• Grated ginger, 1 tablespoon
• 1/2 Art. l. sugar
• 3 tbsp. l. lemon juice
• 3 tbsp. l. Thai fish sauce
• 8 shiitake mushrooms, oyster mushrooms or mushrooms, halved
• Green onions, cilantro for decoration

Pasta Tom Yam:

• Vegetable oil - 4 tbsp
• Shallots - 1 pc.
• Garlic - 5 cloves
• Chili pepper - 2 pcs.

To begin preparing the sauce. Heat the oil in a wok. Throw it chopped garlic for a few seconds. How did the characteristic odor - get it with a spoon and put aside. Further, the oil in turn sent sliced ​​onion and chili. And just as quickly pulled out. Everything is mixed in a blender, and it turns out that most tom yam paste, without which Thai cuisine would not be Thai.

Then send this paste into the pan with the hot broth. There also put the ginger, lemongrass and there we still found the exotic. Cook 5 minutes, tasting. At this point you can add the fish sauce, even chili pepper (for those who love witty), sugar and coconut milk to soften the taste. In general, do broth suitable for consumption. After 5 minutes, add the mushrooms and shrimp. Cook a few more minutes - ready. Pour into a bowl (for authenticity), sprinkle with green onions and cilantro, and welcome to the table hungry.

If you are intrigued and interested in Thai food recipes which, in practice, are not difficult to find the sources of inspiration is not difficult. The growing popularity of Asian cuisine and visible on the Web. The only problem that can overtake you - is the lack of exotic ingredients. But here, as they say, everything is in your hands ...