If you love all things pesto and have some chickpeas sitting in your pantry waiting to be used. here’s a recipe that will make fall in love more and more with pesto. This Lebanese roasted pesto balila chickpeas can be tossed together at a moment’s notice. Filled with flavors and nutrition. Very simple yet still incredibly hearty and satisfying.
Servings 4sides
Ingredients
600gcooked chickpeasdrained *
5-6clovesgarlic
100gfrozen peas
50gpine nuts
¼cupparmigiana cheese
4tbspolive oil
1medium lemonjuice
¼tspblack pepper
½tspsalt
½tspcumin powder
2tbspvegetable oilfor frying
3cupsloosely packedfresh basil leaves
2large handfulof fresh spinachsee notes for frozen
Extra cheese and basil leaves for garnish
Extra chili flakes for serving
Instructions
STEP 01: roasting
Preheat a pan on medium-high. Add your garlic without any oil. and roast for 15 minutes shaking occasionally so it will be roasted on all sides. In the last 5 minutes add to the garlic the green peas and keep shaking until everything is roasted.
STEP 02: make the pesto sauce
Place the roasted garlic and green peas along with pine nuts, cheese, olive oil, lemon, the seasonings and the fresh basil leaves in food processor. Blend the mixture until you have a chunky pesto mixture.
STEP 03: assemble
In the same pan we roasted the garlic in, preheat some oil on medium heat and add the spinach and cook through for 5 min unti wilted, add the chickpeas and the pesto sauce and mix everything up and cook for 10 minutes until everything is smoothly mixed and warmed through.
STEP 04: serve and enjoy!
Scoop your pesto balila in serving bowls and sprinkle some chili flakes, extra cheese and some fresh basil leaves and enjoy warm.
Notes
Chickpeas: you can use canned chickpeas just make sure you wash and drain before using. But for me I like to use homemade cooked chickpeas that are so easy to prepare at home. Vegan version: you can make this recipe 100% vegan by omitting the cheese. It will still be very delicious, I do it all the time. Spinach: you can use freeze spinach , I always do. Instead of the two large handful use 5 frozen cubes of full leaves spinach Storing: you can store any leftovers in the fridge for up to 5 days. Just reheat a little and mix it through before serving again .