Remember when I said I liked making a couple of new things for Thanksgiving? Um, I changed my mind. I haven’t been loving the new recipes. I wanted spectacular. I wanted something that was going to make my family say “Wow, this is great!” I wanted something that could be added to the menu and become part of the Thanksgiving tradition.

What I have so far is an OK and “It’s not bad, Mommy.”

Not what I was going for at all.

I’m hoping the cornbread and/or cheesecake will be a winner. Otherwise, I’m just gonna be down, man.

So, about these spicy roasted chickpeas.

I read so many rave reviews about roasted chickpeas. So many! I don’t know where I went wrong. The chickpeas should be crunchy. About one in ten had the required crunch. The rest tasted aight but kind of dull without a satisfying crunch.

I looked at a few recipes and decided to adapt from one that called for curry powder. It seemed right up my alley, kind of like a snack version of chana masala which is one of my all time favorite comfort food.

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I made the spice mix with some garam masala since I don’t have curry in my spice rack.

Dried the chickpeas as throughly as possible.

Added the spices with some olive oil. Popped them in the oven for the required amount of time. Then another 5 minutes. Then another. The ding dang peas refused to crisp up!

Looks good, no? I’m wondering if the pan on a high rack would work better. I don’t have the energy to try again, at least not for this Thanksgiving.

I adapted from daxphillips’s Curried Chickpea Snack. He was patient and kind enough to answer a few questions.

Will these keep for a few days? He’s never had any leftover to test it out, but he thought I could. I can tell you that the crunchy ones kept and the not-so-crunchy ones weren’t great after a day.

Is there a key to getting the crunch? He said oven temperatures can vary. So, when I do try these again and try I will, I’ll experiment with temperature and placement.

By the way, I’m experimenting here by writing out the recipe without the bullets. What do you think? Better? Cleaner? Doesn’t matter? Opinions people kindly requested!

Spicy Roasted Chickpeas

Time: 5 mins prep, 30 – 40 mins cooking

Serves: 8

Ingredients

2 15 oz canned garbanzo or chickpeas, drained and rinsed well in cold water

1 teaspoon salt

2 teaspoon paprika

1 teaspoon garlic powder

2 teaspoon garam masala

2 tablespoon olive oil

Directions

Pre-heat the oven to 400° F with a baking sheet in the oven.

Dry the rinsed chickpeas on a large kitchen towel using a gentle rolling motion. Try not to remove the skins.

In a medium bowl, mix all the spices. Add the chickpeas and olive oil. Gently mix until all the chickpeas are well coated with spice mixture.

Remove the baking sheet from the oven and place the chickpeas on the sheet in a single layer. Put back in the oven and bake for 30 – 40 minutes. Give the pan a shake or two in middle of the baking to allow for more even baking.

When the chickpeas are crunchy, remove from oven. Even if not all the chickpeas are crunchy they taste fine when served immediately. So, serve immediately!