The white chickpea is a dry legume. The botanical name for chickpeas is Cicer arietinum. The white chickpea and the black and green chickpeas of South Asia are varietals or cultivars of the same species.
Chickpeas are a staple in the cuisines of regions from the Mediterranean to India. The Romans named it cicero; the Italian word is ceci. It is also known in America as the garbanzo bean. The Hindustani name for the while chickpea is kabuli chana – the chickpea from Afghanistan. In India it is also known in as chole or chana.
Chickpeas are harvested dry and whole. Dry beans can be ground into a flour used to make flatbreads and dumplings. White chickpeas are usually cooked whole, while black and green chickpeas may be hulled and split.
White chickpeas are cooked whole in the skin. They keep their shape and do not shed their skin – this provides texture and assorted nutritional benefits. Undercooked chickpeas are grainy or even crunchy. Some recipes start with dry legumes and cook them in a sauce; some cook the legumes first, and then cook them again with other ingredients. Cooked chickpeas absorb flavours. Some recipes suggest removing skins after the cooked legumes are cool, before mashing or other processing. Well known dishes:
- South Asian dishes including chana masala, chana aloo (chana with potatoes) and other vegetable curries;
- Italian dishes including pasta e ceci;
- Hummus (Cooked, mashed and seasoned).
Chickpeas take a long time to cook, compared to other dry legumes. Soaking reduces cooking times for all cooking methods. The main methods of soaking:
- naturally for hours in water at room temperature, or
- a short period in boiling water, or a pressure cooker (quick-soak).
Variations include soaking in salt water and soaking in water with baking soda. These methods require the cook to drain and rinse the soaked beans and discard the soaking water.
Most recipes call for cooked or canned chickpeas, or have a distinct step of cooking the beans. A few recipes will use the fluid of some canned beans, which is not necessarily a good idea. Often the canning fluid in not palatable, and the fluid is high in sodium. Many recipes often recommend disposing of the canning fluid and rinsing the beans. Several recipes conserve and use the soaking and cooking fluid of cooked dry chickpeas. This is workable if the fluid has not been salted or treated with baking soda.
The modern kitchen provides several options for cooking dry chickpeas. On a stove, and working with soaked beans, sources favour bringing the water to a rolling boil and backing off to a steady boil or simmer. Cooks judge slow or gentle boil differently. Stove and pots perform differently. Beans may be old. Sources provide a range of cooking times, in the table below. In the table, the. times are stated in minutes. For the pressure cooker recipes, the authors advise slow or natural release which gives the beans 15-20 minutes at or above the boiling point, after the stated pressure “cooking” time).
| Sources | Simmer | Slow Cooker | Electric Pressure Cooker |
| Italian Vegetarian Cookbook (1997), Jack Bishop | 35-60 | ||
| 366 Delicious Ways to Cook Rice, Beans and Grains (1998), Andrea Chesman | 2 hrs. | ||
| Indian for Everyone (2014), Anupy Singla; The Indian Slow Cooker (2nd ed. 2018), Anupy Singla | 45-60 | Soaked: 4 hrs High3 | |
| The Complete Slow Cooker (2017), America’s Test Kitchen | Dry: 8-9 hrs High | ||
| Hip Pressure Cooking (2014), Laura Pazzaglia | Soaked: 18 minutes at High Dry: 38-40 minutes at High | ||
| Vegan Under Pressure (2016), Jill Nussinow | Soaked: 12-14 minutes at High Dry: 30-40 minutes at High | ||
| Madhur Jaffrey’s Instantly Indian Cookbook (2019) | Soaked: 3 minutes at High Dry: not advised. |
A few notes on the Instant Pot and other electric multi-cooker devices:
- The Instant Pot is an electric pressure cooker. Some pressure cooker books state that soaked chickpeas need 12-14 minute at high pressure, and the slow “natural” release. Madhur Jaffrey said 3 minutes is enough in her Instant Pot book, cited above. That leads to firm chickpeas, but cooks them.
- America’s Test Kitchen and other cooking books and sites have raised questions about whether an Instant Pot can perform recipes for slow cookers. The Instant Pot can do dried chickpeas in the Slow Cooker mode. I use smaller amounts (under 3 cups). I soak these legumes in the Instant Pot, and add more water to cover the beans if the soaked beans have swelled above the surface. I follow with a quick soak – cooking the legumes on Pressure Cooker High for one or two minutes, and let the pressure drop naturally. Then, and while the beans and cooking water are hot, I start the slow cooker program on High (or “More” in some models), cooking with the pressure cooker lid with pressure release valve left open. 6 hours in Slow Cooker mode on High cooks quick-soaked dry beans, including chickpeas, thoroughly.