sauteed garbanzo beans

There is this amazing restaurant in Berkeley and Oakland California called Cesar. It is a tapas bar and an Alice Waters restaurant. If you are any sort of foodie you know who Alice Waters is.

Every spring for a few weeks they have fresh garbanzo beans still in their shells fried with cumin and spices. They are amazingly fresh, and spicy, and yummy. When the bee was ten months old we ate there five days in a row, eating those wonderful beans and my ten month old could get those shells open herself to eat the inside of the bean. She loved them!

She still does. Garbanzo beans are wonderful for so much more than just hummus. They are great in minestrone soup, and other multi bean soups. I even like to use them in chili sometimes because of their meaty texture. They don't ever fall apart when they are cooked.

But one of our favorite quick and easy breakfasts is sauteed garbanzo beans. Sure it isn't a traditional breakfast item, but combined with a piece of whole wheat bread it makes a complete protein that keeps you from getting hungry in twenty minutes.

2 cans garbanzo beans drained.
1 shallot
2 Tbsp cumin (or less to taste)
1 tsp chili powder
1 clove garlic
salt and pepper to taste
olive oil

Mix all but the butter in a food processor until garbanzos and garlic are chopped fine. I sometimes add a tiny bit of olive oil to get the beans to hold together well and make patties. Form patties and fry in olive oil. They will fall apart a bit, and won't ever be firm patties, but it is still yummy. If you add eggs you could make a more firm patty.

I like a LOT of cumin because it is just yummy and I want a big strong slightly spicy cuminey flavor.