chickpeas, chickpeas and more chickpeas....

I was recently given a load of food by an expat friend and fellow vegetarian who was leaving the grey shores of Blighty for somewhere where there was a big yellow thing in the sky (lucky girl!)  This load of food included a bag of chickpeas which weighs about 473lbs and has left me with the quandry of what on earth to do with so many chickpeas?! Chickpeas a l'orange? Chickpea trifle? Chick-offee pie? Chickpea lasagne? Hummous is the obvious answer, but apart from the fact that I'd have enough hummous to feed the entire Middle East for three generations, my hummous sucks.  Badly. 

So....here you go folks! A recipe for yummy chickpea burgers which I can't take credit for as I got it from the site treehugger.com.  Will post my recipe for chickpea trifle another day.

2tsp veg oil
3 chopped green onions, including the tops
2 cloves of minced garlic
1tsp each dried oregano and chilli powder
1 cup diced red pepper and/or 1/2 cup chopped pickled hot peppers
1/2 chopped tomato
1 can (19oz) chickpeas dried and rinsed
1/3 cup breadcrumbs
2tbsp chopped parsley or cilantro

Heat oil over medium head and cook onions, garlic, oregano and chilli powder and stir for about 2 min.  Add red pepper and tomato and cook approx 3 minutes until pepper is tender and liquid evaporated.
In a food processor, mix the above with chickpeas then transfer to a bowl and stir in breadcrumbs, parsley, salt and pepper to taste until well combined.  Press and shape into 4 burgers, cook over medium heat for about 4 minutes each side.
Note: After they're made into patties but before cooking, they can be stored in the fridge for up to 3 days or in the freezer for 1 month.  Good news for me, I can make about 1,000 burgers and freeze them.