Chickpea Flour Scramble

Use this savory, fluffy scramble wherever you would use scrambled eggs: with your oatmeal, next to pancakes, or in a burrito or sandwich. With no cholesterol and a lot of protein, folate, and fiber, they're a great way to keep your diet on track too.

Chickpea Flour Scramble will help you through busy times or shortages. Forgot to soak or cook beans? Make a scramble. Make a big batch and reheat through the week. Unlike eggs, a bag of chickpea flour can be dropped without damage, kept unrefrigerated, and lasts for years. Keep a bag of chickpea flour on hand for when you want a more exotic taste for breakfast, as part of your emergency preparation store, or just in case you run out of eggs.

Active time: 10 minutes. Total time: 15 minutes. Serves 4.

Chickpea Flour Scramble

Ingredients

• 1 cup (120 grams) chickpea flour
• 2 teaspoons coriander
• 1 teaspoon cumin
• 1 teaspoon salt
• 1/4 teaspoon turmeric
• 1 1/2 cup water
• 1 teaspoon corn oil

Recipe Method

1. Stir dry ingredients in a medium bowl. Add half the water and stir until smooth. Add remaining water and stir again.
2. Heat 1 teaspoon corn oil in a medium skillet over medium heat, then pour in batter. Use a spatula to scrape scramble from bottom of pan as it cooks and to stir the mixture as you would scrambled eggs. When the scramble comes together in a heap after about five minutes, put it on a cutting board for about five minutes so the bean flour absorbs the liquid and becomes more digestible.
   
   
   
   
3. Using the spatula or a knife, break up the heap o' beans into chucks that would take two or three bites to eat. At this point, you can refrigerate the part that you won't eat right away, then heat in a skillet or the microwave when ready.
4. Just before serving, rewarm the scramble by heating the remaining teaspoon oil in the skillet over medium heat, adding the scramble, and cooking it for about two minutes.
5. Serve hot. Refrigerate any extra for up to four days and heat before serving.

Tips and Notes

• Chickpea flour is also called besan flour. It can be a bit elusive in the grocery store. Look for it in the bean, baking, international, or baking sections. It may be easiest to find at a health-food store, a Whole Foods, or an Indian store, but remember that your regular grocer is eager to stock what you will buy. Ask Customer Service to help you find it or to order it.
• Switch out the Indian spices in this recipe to match whatever else you are serving. I'm looking forward to trying Italian and Southwestern versions.
• Cut the calories and oil by using just a film of oil in a non-stick skillet for the first cooking, then warming the scramble in the microwave just before serving instead of reheating it in the skillet.