Chickpea Snacks

From Paul Prudhomme's book "Fork in the Road".

Additional comments at the end.

Chickpea Snacks (Takes 2-3 days)

Ingredients for the seasoning mix
2 teaspoons salt
2 teaspoons onion powder
2 teaspoons garlic powder
1 teaspoon dry mustard
1 teaspoon turmeric
3/4 teaspoon white pepper
1/2 teaspoon black pepper
1/2 teaspoon cayenne

Combine all of the above in a small bowl.

Other ingredients
1 packet artificial sweetner (1-gram)
1/2 pound dried chickpeas
5 cups water
1 cup apple juice
1 cup vegetable stock

Combine 1 TABLESPOON ONLY of the seasoning mix with the artificial sweetener
and set aside.

Place the chickpeas and water in a container, add the rest of the UNsweetened
seasoning mix, and soak overnight in the refrigerator. The peas will be more
than double in volume, so make sure the pot is big enough to hold them.

The next day:
Place chickpeas and the (seasoned) soaking water in a 5 quart pot over high
heat. Add apple juice and cook 20 minutes. Add vegetable stock and cook
until peas are just tender, 40 minutes. Remove from heat, drain peas in
colander, rinse well, and drain.

Sprinkle peas evenly with reserved sweetened seasoning mix.

Now you can cook them one of two ways.
1. Use a food dehydrator. Spread evenly around the trays and dehydrate
until peas are dry and crunchy, about 20-22 hours.
2. Use an oven. Spread peas on cookie sheets or sheet pans and cook at 150
degrees until dry and crunchy, about 20-22 hours.

COMMENTS:
I didn't have white pepper so used 1 teaspoon black pepper total.
I tried this recipe both with and without the artificial sweetner and it's
better *with* it. Regular sugar doesn't work at all.
Did not have a dehydrator, dryed them in the oven. It took 15 hours one
time, 20 hours another. Must have been the number of times I opened the oven
door. You have to move the pans from one shelf to another and turn them
every couple of hours or they won't dry evenly. I did not stir the peas.