The End of Ramadan

কাঁচা ছোলা

Raw Chickpeas

Raw chickpeas as part of a healthy iftaar with various fruit.
And one unhealthy cauliflower fritter.

Raw chickpeas form an essential part of the healthy iftaar in my family, especially on my mom's side. We have heaps of this stuff alongside fruit and salad while minimising our consumption of deep fried vegetable fritters and cooked chickpeas. They're a great source of protein. In fact, in the past they weren't a Ramadan-only staple - members of the local bodybuilding club near my grandma's house used these as a diet supplement. 

Peeling them for consumption can be quite time consuming, and I remember our aunts often set us - the cousins - the job of sitting down and preparing them before many iftaars. Working communally sped things up considerably so consider applying the same strategy if you can!

Ingredients:

• 100.00g of raw chickpeas
• 1.00 teaspoon of sliced ginger
• Lemon juice from 2 wedges of lemon
• Salt, to taste

Method:

• Soak the chickpeas overnight
• Once soaked, they should grow and become easier to peel. Peel and discard the shells (this will take time and patience!)
• Mix the chickpeas, ginger, lemon juice and salt together
• Either serve immediately, or refrigerate for an hour and serve cold

Additional Information:

Potentially something to add to a fresh, zingy salad.