You probably already love hummus, but—breaking news!—that's not the only thing the humble chickpea (a.k.a. garbanzo bean) can do. When ground into a flour, a whole new world of chickpea possibility opens up.
I should know. A bag of chickpea flour is a constant in my pantry, and not just because I eat a gluten-free diet. I love its nuttiness, and I love how easily it transforms into everything from tortilla-thin flatbreads to thick, vegetable-stuffed pancakes. In every iteration, these dishes are packed with extra protein and fiber—so what's not to love? It's time to add a bag of chickpea flour to your pantry. Here are a few more convincing reasons:
It's a "Power Flour"
Chickpea flour is one of the most nutrient-packed gluten-free flours available. In fact, you can do so many different things with it that Lindsey Love wrote a whole cookbook about it: Chickpea Flour Does It All. "Chickpea flour is a unique flour, in that the nutritional benefits, versatility, taste, and texture it lends to gluten-free cooking is rare when compared to other flours," Love says. In her book, she proves it by comparing the nutritional stats for chickpea flour against white rice flour and whole wheat. Surprise (or not): chickpea wins on all fronts.
It's Got Serious Binding Power
One of the constant struggles of gluten-free baking is texture. Without gluten, things don't bind together well, and GF bakers like myself are left scrambling for other ways to get consistent textures. But chickpea flour, Love explains, "is a naturally dense flour, and because of that denseness, and its innate binding tendencies, it lends baked goods a sturdy yet tender texture when mixed with other gluten-free flours. So, for quick breads, muffins, and cakes, it holds up extremely well."
Personally, I love to use chickpea flour to bind any kind of fritter—carrot, squash, shrimp, and more. Swap it in for wheat flour in almost any fritter recipe and it'll work wonderfully—and lend a nice savory note to boot.
Christopher Hirsheimer
It's an International All-Star
Though just recently gaining popularity as a pantry staple in the States, chickpea flour—also known as gram flour, garbanzo bean flour, or besan—has been used in parts of Asia and Europe for centuries. Perhaps the best known uses come from Italy and France, where it's fried and roasted into a variety of snacks and breads. In Southern France chickpea flour is cooked like polenta, cooled, sliced into logs, then fried into the addictive snack known as panisse. In Italy, they do the same thing and call it panelle.
Another common creation is a big (traditionally wood-oven-roasted) unleavened pancake made out of just chickpea flour, water, olive oil, and salt; it's known as farinata in Italy and socca in France, where it's often cut into wedges and served alongside salad or as a snack all on its own.
