Spicy Chickpea Tacos

Sorry for my absence, but I have been on vacation for the last week and I had a wonderful time!  So, I hope I am forgiven...but in the meantime, I will share a very, very tasty recipe for chickpea tacos. These are wonderful tacos and I recommend them highly!  If you're a bit of a spice-o-phobe, just reduce the amount of red pepper flakes and cayenne pepper.  As for the photo, I apologize, but I was very hungry so I just snapped a photo with my iphone instead of the real camera.  Oh well, such is life.  You will survive, I'm sure!

I used dried chickpeas, which I soaked overnight last night and then cooked on the stovetop for about 90 minutes over med-low heat in a saucepan with a lid.  Be sure you have enough water in the pot that it covers the chickpeas by about an inch or more.  It seems to get pretty steamy, so I left the lid slightly off-kilter so the steam could escape more easily.  I suppose you could also cook them more quickly by boiling them, but lower temp/longer time was the direction I was given.  It's up to you what you decide on.  I think that if you were really pressed for time, you could use canned chickpeas, though I make no promises about that one.

Anywhoooo....tacos. OMG. So delicious.  You will crave these goodies all the time.  I just ate them and already I'm thinking about the next time I can make them.  I like mine with some vegan cheese, romaine letuce, raw onion, and a medium-spicy taco sauce, but fill them up with whatever sounds good to you!

Possible changes I'm considering for next time:

• saute some diced onion and bell pepper and add into the chickpeas before adding them to the oven. 
• try making with some mashed black beans in addition to chickpeas
• add taco sauce to the chickpeas before baking

Well, on the the recipe! My batch made enough for 6 average-sized tacos.

Ingredients:

• 6 taco shells or tortillas
• 1/3 lb dried chickpeas (I think it made about 1.5 cups after cooking)
• 2 TB Braggs Liquid Aminos or soy sauce/tamari
• 1 1/2 TB lemon juice
• 1 TB chili powder
• 1 TB garlic powder
• 1 TB onion powder
• 1 TB red pepper flakes
• 1 TB cumin
• 1 tsp cayenne
• 1 tsp smoked paprika
• 1/2 tsp cajun seasoning (optional, but it was tasty)
• 1 tsp fresh black pepper
• 1/2 tsp salt
• taco toppings: lettuce, onion, tomatoes, taco sauce, etc.

Method:

1. Cook your chickpeas for about 90 minutes over a medium or medium-low heat. Once done, drain and mash with a potato masher or a fork. You don't HAVE to mash, but they will roll out of the taco shells if you don't.  I just drained the chickpeas and mashed in their pan.
2. Pre-heat your oven to 375 degrees F.  Prepare a baking sheet with either some spray oil, a silicone mat or some parchment paper and then set aside.
3. In bowl, combine Braggs, lemon juice, and all spices. I used a whisk to really get it mixed well.
4. Pour the liquid mix over the chickpeas in the pan and mix well.  You don't have to use it all, because it may be too spicy for you, so add about half to start then add in more to your tastes.
5. Plop the chickpea and spice mix out onto a baking sheet and spread somewhat.
6. Cook for about 15 minutes on the middle rack. 
7. Serve up on your tortillas with all the fixin's and devour.  Or whatever.  

Also, I just learned that when you buy corn (crunchy) shells from the grocery store, you should heat them in the oven to make them crispy. How did I never know this before???  It really makes them soooo much tastier.