Top Ten Chickpea Recipes

Admit it, if I looked in your cupboards right now, I'd probably find at least one tin of chickpeas, wouldn't I? And how long have those chickpeas been in your cupboard? Two weeks? Two months? More?! It's time to dig out those chickpeas and make one of our wonderful recipes.

Tinned chickpeas might actually be the most convenient ingredient in the world. Just whizz some up with red peppers to make the greatest houmous ever. How does chucking some squash, mushrooms and chickpeas in the oven and leaving them to do their thing sound? Effortless, that's how. Equally simple, is Hazel's grilled sardines with lemon garlic chickpeas and cous cous - just pour over hot stock and five minutes later, it's done!

Adding chickpeas to a salad turns it from ordinary to awesome. Channel your inner Ottolenghi with a Mediterranean-style salad, or go fresh and simple with orange, mint and feta. Oh, and you can't have a Buddha bowl without a good helping of chickpeas.

Curry and chickpeas go together like Bert and Ernie or Mel and Sue, they're the best of friends. Whether you go simple with coconut milk and lime, or spicy with cashews and madras, you just can't beat a chickpea curry. If you're having curry, you're going to need some onion bhajis and pakora made with chickpea flour.

Oh, and since you've got the gram flour out, don't forget to make a batch of chickpea flour pancakes. I might even wrap one around some vada pau for a gram flour feast. Let's not forget to save some flour to whip up some colourful beetroot and feta fritters. We're going to need some more chickpeas.

Need more recipe ideas? Check out the rest of our top ten recipe posts.