Five Weeknight Dishes: Chickpeas to the rescue

By Emily Weinstein, The New York Times

I’ve been on a chickpea kick lately, enabled by a stockpile of dried chickpeas and Ella Quittner’s extremely thorough guide to cooking them well. Her guide includes pressure cooker times — exactly what I needed.

But canned chickpeas are one of the great gifts of the supermarket, something to always keep on hand at home if you aren’t a dried-bean person (or if, like me, you often forget to plan ahead). If you have a can or two, you can easily make a number of great chickpea recipes for dinner.

1. Coconut Curry Chickpeas With Pumpkin and Lime

Canned pumpkin purée and coconut milk, heavily seasoned with curry spices and lots of fresh lime juice, make a sweet-sharp sauce for chickpeas. It’s a rich, creamy curry that you can eat on its own, or serve over rice or couscous. If you want to incorporate more vegetables, stir in some spinach, baby kale or sliced green beans during the last few min...