A. Bongiovanni and KFL: Supermarkets in the West

Sure when you move to a different area you need to do things like find a new doctor, dentist etc but one of the most annoying but also kind of exciting thing is exploring new supermarkets. I'm the type of person who loves to stroll around supermarkets in new countries etc just exploring what sorts of products they have. I'm sure i'm in the minority here and other people have lives or something but if your like me then continue reading if not perhaps this can serve as some sort of boring night time reading to put you to sleep. 

I wanted to tell you about two quite different supermarkets they we frequent in our new hood. The first is in seddon. Seddon is a tiny slightly yuppish suburb with several cafes, at least two dog accessory shops and lots of seddon puns: seddonia, seddon deadly sins, seddon hand etc. They are also home o A. Bongiovanni a fancy grocery store.

Otherwise known as a 'organic and gluten free specialist'!

Which is around the corner from one of my favourite pieces of street art, I love this series in general you can see similar ones in footscray, brunswick etc but this is my fave.

They do have lots of gluten free flours, cereal and one of the best gf breads- black ruby bread

They also have some mexican things like black beans and all sorts of peppers:

And one of the biggest arlington tapioca dessert range I have seen, if you haven't tried them yet, you should! Also coyo yogurt and funky pies.

One warning about A. Bioniovanni though, its pricey. I was so excited to see their big range of special products whereas Toby was just a tad outraged about how expensive it is was. Also they close early like at 7pm on weeknights.

A. Bongiovanni and Son Grocery Store
176 Victoria Street
Seddon
9689 8669


The second supermarket they were frequent a little more is almost the opposite. It's an Asian supermarket in Footscray:



It has one of the biggest tofu ranges I have seen. I refuse to buy non asian tofu from places like coles (except for the occasional smoked tofu). Asian tofu like yensons have much more variety, better quality and much cheaper (like more than half the price).

I also saw stuff I have never seen before like jelly tofu:

And tofu and sauce to make the chinese style dessert which I love called douha

They also a had a big range of dried mockmeat-tvp style, plus lots of noodles and coriander for 69 cents!

KFL Supermarket-Footscray

176 Barkly Street

Footscray

9687 4855

Reverence Hotel - Footscray

Toby and I finally started to explore the bike paths in the west, we road to the docklands and back, it was quite quick with hardly any traffic lights to stop at. Afterwards we rode to reverence hotel which is right next to the bike path. Reverence is an omni pub with vegan options, it is owned by the ex arthouse owners. Every tuesday night they have trivia, $3 tacos and $3 tecate's (mexican beer), but this week they had it today-boxing day.  Tuesday never seems to work time wise but a public holiday was perfect timing. We went along with Cindy and Michael, see their blog in a few days for better pics!

There was a mixture of hipsters and some older locals but unfortunately there was no inside tables left so we sat outside in the beer garden. Looks like they take bookings since a few tables were reserved. I notice they also had pizzas on their regular menu with vegan and gf options from Thursday-Sunday.

There was 4 taco options (all gf), two meat options and two vegan options: beans and tofu. Toby ordered one of each for me and him:



The tofu was my favourite and reminded me of our tofu tacos, it was crumbled and flavoured with smoked paprika and other spices. It was served with a creamy mayo type sauce with home made salsa and lime on the side. Two wasn't enough for either of us, toby needed four to get full, and I needed 3 in total. I was pretty pleased with my $9 dinner, I really had low expectations but they were both great. The bean taco was tobys favourite, it has mushrooms and avocado and corn in it. Toby was pleased with cheap but good beer. We will be back to try the pizza another night but pleased to have another westside vegan option.
 .
It has been blogged about the good hearted.

Reverence Hotel
28 Napier Street
Footscray

White Guy Cooks Thai Food Cart

We have recently moved to the west so pleased to see there is at least one food van around here and it sells more gluten free and vegan options than most of the ones in the west side.

We went tonight to Footscray park where it was parked:

They had three vegan and gluten free menu items, or four if you include edamame which is pretty awesome given a small changing asian menu:

 I couldn't resist the crunchy corn cakes with chilli jam,avocado relish and asian coleslaw and sushi rice ($11.50). These were crunchy and amazing. I seriously regret having to share them with Toby. Next time I'm not sharing them with anyone.

I also got the tofu noodle salad ($10.50) with citrus sesame dressing this was a tad on the small size but the fried tofu bits were perfect and it was full of flavour. Next time we might get three dishes to share between the two of us or just eat dessert later.

I will definitely be eating more from there soon, I look forward to sitting on the grass and eating it at yarraville or footscray park on warm summer night.  My brother and his girlfriend loved their omni dishes particularly their bahm mi sliders.

You can follow them on twitter or facebook to find where they are parked each night.

It has been blogged about by consider the source and footscray food blog.

Brisbane Gluten Free and Vegan Eating

Last time we went to Brisbane, it was a great gluteny filled mockmeat adventure. This time around I was a tad nervous about what I would eat. Thankfully I had the incredibly kind Susan to pick us up, drive around  do a lot of the research and even let us stay with her. She also assisted me with a green ant issue which is much too embarrassing to list her. Lets just say that I discovered that green ant bites hurt and the pain lasts for ages and they can bite all sorts of places! One morning she made us some xgfx cherry vanilla pancakes, served with leftover chocolate peanut butter ice cream. That was certainly worth the plane trip!

First stop was Green Edge-vegan supermarket and cafe. I was surprised to see lots of new products that we don't have in Melbourne like the so delicious ice cream range with ice cream made from almond milk or coconut milk.

When everyone (translation: susan, matt and james) recommended having a burger minus a bun, I really thought blah. But I loved the tofu satay burger so much that I had it twice and when on to recreate it back home I didn't miss the bun at all, in fact I think I even prefer it (since I tried it at home with gf bread). The tofu is covered in a chickpea flour, fried and the satay sauce is awesome. The salad has traditional mayo on it.. Sadly, I can't find the picture though, blogger fail!!!

I also got to have a raspberry spider, haven't had one for years!

I got to try lots of ice cream from there and all three of matt and james desserts, they have vegan dessert place called delicious regardless with vegan and mostly gluten free desserts, you have to check them out when you are in Brisbane. I do have a disclaimer though: they are twitter friends who we also met up with but I hope you believe me when I say that their chocolate cheesecake was seriously like a piece of heaven, rich sweet heaven:

The chocolate mousse was similarly rich and had a very slight nutty flavour. I struggled to finish it but got some help when we met up with Theresa, Amy and Susan.

The lemon cheesecake was refreshing on a hot summer day and meant that I had room for more desserts.

Toby had a list of speciality coffee places to try. He said cupcoffee was his favorite.  I went along to one of the cafes- bunker  and discovered that they had iced chocolate made with melted chocolate and bonsoy and sold in bottles. It was smooth, no lumps at all and rich and awesome on a hot brisbane day. I want to recreate this at home!

with Tobys cold press coffee.

We went to a nepalese restaurant on our last night called Himalayan cafe on the last night. Susan wasn't joking when she said we better book, even on a sunday night, it was pretty full. We started with an entree called 'mask ko bara' which was a gf patty made with black lentil flour. The tetxure was kind of bready and tasty.

We ordered three different curries. I think we all had different favourites, I think mine was the chickpea curry, toby enjoyed the lemongrass silken tofu one and I think susan's was the potato one. But that might be wrong, they all had similar yet flavours but slightly different heat.

Afterwards we spotted a gelato place called re del gelato and went into enquiry and discovered several vegan flavours. I loved the lychee and the mango but Toby was more daring and went for the carrot, orange and lemon gelato (featured centre back) which tasted exactly like the vitamin c tablets that we had as a child, no obvious carrot taste at all but I don't think I could eat a lot of it.

We also went to loving hut but I wasn't a big fan of my gf dishes, while toby enjoyed some mock meat.

I'm not a big fan of salads (particularly lettuce types) so when Susan and Matt suggested for a last meal that we got to a leabanese place for salads called NoNos I was again hesitant but it was awesome.

I had a plate with a lentil caramelized onion rice salad, a potato salad made with tahini which was awesome and I hate tahini, a chickpea salad and a green bean salad with one piece of fried eggplant. My faves were definitely the lentil and the potato salad.The fried eggplant was so good that I got a second piece and made Toby share it with me. Toby said his falafel was a bit bland though but then he had a lot of falafel.

We also enjoyed some good food at a relatives gorgeous wedding. All in all ways a great trip to brisbane! I know I haven't researched who has blogged about where, such bad blogger etiquette but it one long post.

Inner West Food Suggestions?

Hi

Just a quick post to say that we are alive just life has been a bit hectic at the moment, especially since we are the middle of moving house. We haven't moved for several years so forget how much stuff we have. I was talking to someone at a party the other day about the popular blog called zenhabits which focuses on minimalist living, so I have been reading it for inspiration at night, so trying to declutter as we move but its so muck work. Remind me if I buy any new clothing/kitchen stuff in the future to get rid of at least 2 things. On the bright side, i'm looking forward to having room in our new place for a dining table, a proper garden and hosting a potluck in summer time!

No, it's not us!

I wondered if any of you know of any vegan and gluten free food options in the inner west, particuarly around yarravile, footscray and seddon? I know a few vegan options but struggle a little with the annoying gluten free.

Purple Patch- Sandringham

Our friend Craig has recently started working at a vegetarian cafe called Purple Patch in Sandringham. I went along with vegan friends a few weeks ago who had similar fry ups to the ones Cindy blogged about with tofu scramble, deep fried 'sausages' and loads of  other fried things. Craig listed a range of things which are gluten free and savoury but then suggested that he have a go at making some gluten free pancakes. As you all know I have a sweet tooth so I said yes but was a little dubious, you can't just make up a gluten free pancake recipe can you???

But then this amazing plate arrived with a stack of soft pillowly pancakes, a berry cream cheese sauce (why haven't I had a cream cheese sauce with pancakes before?), bananas and maple syrup. It was A-MAZ-ING. Seriously some of the best pancakes I have ever had, including gluteny ones. My gluten eating friends also enjoyed the bits I shared.

If you ask nicely when he is working I'm sure he would make them again.

I also enjoyed a take away coconut raspberry slice.

Purple Patch has also been blogged about by Veganise This.

Purple Patch
19 Bay Road
Sandringham

Dosa Hut- West Footscray

I've been craving dosas since our Hong Kong trip and so suggested dosa hut for a family event. It's a nice looking cafe with very reasonable prices. I wasn't completely confident of their gf-ness because when I asked she said that they use regular flour too but Toby and I were pretty sure that she was talking about the whole restaurant rather than the dosas. I didn't get sick afterwards which is a good sign.

 excuse the phone pic

Toby and I both ordered the masala dosa (about $8). It comes with a coconut sauce, a mild vegetable curry and a slightly spicer sauce. The potato curry inside the large pancake was very tasty but also very spicy. My family members enjoyed their dosas and curries too although my grandfathers rice based dish was far too spicy for him. I think Toby struggled too with the spice level, so if you can't handle the heat I would stay away. I loved it though. My mother who is a big fan of Indian food said that she couldn't believe that she had only just discovered dosas. My only complaint was that I was still a little hungry so ate half of a second serve.

You can read other reviews at footscray food blog and consider the sauce.

Salaam Namaste Dosa Hut
604 Barkly Street
West Footscray
9687 0171

Green Smoothies and Hemp Truffles

About a fortnight ago when we got our first taste of spring , I felt inspired and energised to be healthier. While the weather quickly went back to being miserable with only a few good days inbetween. I've kept up some good habits. I'm still eating some junk particularly at the potluck yesterday but I feel that at least I start the days on a good start by having a green smoothie for breakfast. I started out with:

Classic Green Smoothie from Oh She Glows:

Yield: 1 serving/2 cups
Ingredients:

• 1 cup almond milk, or milk of choice
• 1 ripe banana, preferably peeled + frozen
• 2 handfuls organic spinach or 1 handful kale
• 1 tbsp chia seeds OR 1 tbsp ground flax
• 1 tbsp nut butter, optional
• 1-3 ice cubes
• protein powder of choice, optional

Directions: Starting with the liquid, add in 1 cup of milk of your choice. Now add in the chia or flax and nut butter. Next, add in the spinach followed by the banana on top. Blend until smooth. Add in your ice cubes and blend some more. Serves 1- about 2 cups.

This was great, I skipped the ice and the protein powder. You can't taste the baby spinach at all, so its a great way to start. It didn't quite fill me up.  But I've found that if I increase almond milk to about 1&1/4 cup and increase the seeds or nut butter slightly then I'm right to lunch time.

I've slowly been making more adaptions using frozen bluberries, cherries, raspberries and using kale and boy choy (yes sounds gross but again can't taste it), I've also used hemp seeds too.

I'm not a morning person at all, so I put it in my klean canteen bottle and drink it on the way to work. Be warned if you do this to rinse it out straight away. I once left my bottle dirty until I got home which was a big mistake-smell wise. I do need to floss at work now though unless I start getting up earlier and having it at home.

I recently bought some hemp seeds which are supposadly good for you. I'm always suck a sucker for the latest 'superfood'.  This US study suggests a range of benefits like high in omega 3 and 6, and may lower cholestrol and blood pressure. They are actually legal to eat everywhere except for australia and new zealand. So they are sold as a skincare product in some larger health food stores. See below:

I'm also been making a few different versions of these raw truffles so if I do get hungry before lunch I eat a couple. This is my favourite, its slightly sweet and Toby who hates these sort of raw snacks loves these (and not just for the high protein).

Hemp Truffles adapted from the raw project

• 1 cups shelled hemp seeds
• 1/2 cup chia seeds
• 2 tbsp. almond butter
• 1 cup pitted dates
• 1/8 cup cacao powder
• 1/4 tsp. salt
• 1/2 teaspoons vanilla
• 1 teaspoon maple syrup

Place hemp seeds, chia seeds, almond butter, cacao powder, and salt into a food processor and process until well blended. While processing, feed in pitted dates and process until the mixture is well blended and clumping. Add in vanilla and maple syrup. Roll mixture into small, quarter-sized balls and enjoy. Makes about 15 balls.

 I love these type of recipes, if you have any similar recipes please let me know.

They both may look gross but taste great!

Baked Vegan and Gluten Free Cheesecake with Strawberry Glaze

It was Toby's birthday this weekend and when I discussed the idea of making him a cake he had zero interest in fact he said if I made a cake he won't eat any. We are such opposites in some ways. Until Lisa on twitter suggested a tofu cheesecake and he suddenly become interested. So I made him this protein packed cake:

Baked Vegan and Gluten Free Cheesecake with Strawberry Glaze

Base:

1 packet of gf biscuits- 175 grams, I used organ gluten free vanilla outback animal biscuit

60 grams dairy free margarine (nuttelex), melted

Place biscuits in food processor and process til they become crumbs, add melted margarine and press into base of 9 inch case pan. Place in fridge.

Cheesecake (from baking bites):

1-14 oz (390 grams) package firm silken tofu (I think the silken tofu I used was a little smaller)
1-8 oz (227grams) package Better than Cream Cheese
2/3 cup sugar
¼ cup lemon juice (I used tiny bit of lime juice since I didn't have enough lemon)
½ tsp almond essence (I used vanilla)
2 tbsp cornstarch

Preheat oven to 350F.

Place silken tofu and vegan cream cheese in the food processor. Process for 1 minute, then add sugar. Process until smooth and no sugar granules remain, 3-5 minutes.

In a small bowl, combine lemon juice and almond extract. Whisk in cornstarch. Pour mixture into the food processor and process until very smooth. Pour into prepared crust and bake for 45 minutes.
Allow to cool at room temperature for 2 hours, then refrigerate overnight.

Strawberry Glaze:

1/4 cup strawberry jam

2 tablespoon of water

1 punnet of strawberries (you made need more or less depending on how you want to decorate it)

Heat jam and water until simmering and brush on cake, add strawberries and glaze more on top. Chill until ready to eat.

I put the strawberries in the shape of a 'T' in the middle. This was a pretty easy cake to make, it does make a small cake though and it does have a slight soy flavour. Everyone seemed to enjoy it though particularly the birthday boy!

Here is a not so great phone pic:

P.S: Planet VegMel is celebrating its third birthday this year with a picnic on Saturday September 15 at Edinburgh Gardens, starting at 1pm.  Check out the facebook event here. Come along and bring some vegan food to share. If you are up for a challenge or just wanting to feed me you can make it gf too :-)

Red Robyn Cafe and Ten Year Vegan Anniversary

I came back from semi blogging retirement to tell you two things.

First: I've been vegan for 10 years!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

I don't really remember what month it was but suspect it was some time between June and August. I still remember family members telling me it was a stage that I was going through. Remember, mum? I think i've changed a lot over those years though in the beginning I was so passionate that I wanted to tell everyone, would happily engage in conversations/arguments whereas now I've become somewhat non confrontational in fact loads of people in my life don't even know, particularly colleagues. I'm also trying to move away from eating vegan junk food and move to healthier wholefoods.

Second:

There is a relatively new gluten free cafe called Red Robyn which I adore. I've been twice now. It's an omni gluten free cafe but caters really well to vegans. Often vegetarian places like chinese vegetarian restaurants do not cater at all for coeliacs and gluten free cafes don't cater for vegans. So Red Robyn makes my heart sing!

The first time I went, I had the sweet potato rosti with smoky beans and avocado which I loved. Yesterday when I went I got the curried lentil pot pie with chickpea chips. The pastry on top of the lentil pot pie was great for gf pastry which is no easy feat. The lenil curry was surprisingly good with a coconut base and the chicpeas fries were amazing. I need to try to make these at home.

Then it was DONUT TIME, I got a custard donut. Yes a vegan and gluten free custard donut! I should have taken an inside shot but I was too excited. The donut part was quite similar to a regular donut but it needed more custard. Last time I went I got a vanilla slice which was awesome. I also have a jam donut in my fridge waiting for me to eat after dinner tonight and I had some yoyos last night. The yoyos are ok but perhaps too sweet, but I don't think i've ever been a yoyo fan.

It's quite a quitea cute cafe too, I loved these features:

They have lots of other awesome things that I want to try like too like the vegan and gluten free pancakes! The customer service is great and they cater well to other intolerances too like fructose malabsorption. Toby said that the coffee is actually pretty good and they have rice milk, as well as soy milk available. Both times I went with people who can eat gluten like Toby, Michael and Erin and they all enjoyed their meals. My only complaint is that its not super close to my house but so worth the drive!

Red Robyn Cafe & Restaurant
393 Camberwell Rd
Camberwell
9077 3763

Quinoa Croquettes

I've been making these croquettes a lot lately, I never use black eyed beans though, and substitute whatever I have on hand so far I've tried kidney beans, chickpeas and cannelloni beans. They are so versitile too, each time we have served them in a different way, one night we had them with pasta and tomato based sauce and a cheesy sauce, another night with mashed potatoes and gravy and last night we took them to a potluck with a tangy dipping sauce. They freeze really well too. I recommend doubling or tripling this recipe and freezing what you don't need.

Black-eyed Pea and Quinoa Croquettes from vegan with a vengeance

1 1/2 cups cooked black-eyed peas, drained, or 1 can, drained and rinsed

1 tbsp olive oil

1 tbsp soy sauce

1 cup cooked quinoa, at room temperature

1/2 tsp dried thyme

1/2 tsp dried basil

1 tsp paprika

For the bread crumb coating:

1/2 cup bread crumbs (I used gf breadcrumbs)

1/8 tsp sea salt

Few dashes of black pepper

1/2 tsp finely grated lemon zest

2 tsp olive oil


1.

Preheat the oven to 170°C (350°F) degrees. Mash the black-eyed peas (or whatever beans you subsitute) and combine with the olive oil and soy sauce until just blended. I made it with food processor last night but they become too soft. Add the quinoa and spices and combine the mixture. You should be able to mould them into balls that readily stick together.

2.

In a small bowl, mix together all the ingredients for the breading. Spray a baking pan with a little oil. Form the croquettes into walnut-sized balls. Gently roll the balls between your palms 3-4 times, then flatten out the ends so that the croquettes resemble marshmallows. Coat each ball with the bread crumbs and place on the baking sheet. When all the croquettes have been formed, spray lightly with oil. Bake for 40 minutes, turning once after 20 minutes.

Excuse this slightly blurry pic

Aussie Vegan Survey

We are trying to get stats on how many vegans in Australia, if you are vegan and in Australia please complete this simple 2 question survey. It will close in a few weeks and will share the results soon after.

http://www.surveymonkey.com/s/86ZLWGS

Munster Haus - Now Open For Dinner

Life has been crazy lately, just really busy, we actually have lots of things to blog about but need more time. A friend of mine recently alerting me to the fact that Munster Haus is now open for dinner on Friday and Saturday nights. We haven't been since they first opened which we blogged about here because we so rarely go out for lunch and kind of forgot about it.

We went last week and they had plenty of gluten free options and was the perfect quick and quite healthy meal. All of the meals are precooked or salads. You can choose the bowl size and as many options as you can want, the medium bowl ($14) seems to be best for me whereas Toby opts for large ($18).


This one had so many delicious parts including a quinoa salad, sweet chilli type tofu dish, roasted potatoes, fried polenta squares, rice balls and more with two dips on top, a tofu based sauce and another one which I think was chickpea based but was very different to hummous. My fave parts were the roasted potatoes, polenta squares, the chilli tofu and the tofu dip but it was all tasty and great to have so much variation.  

We enjoyed it so much we went back this weekend, with friends of ours who had there first dinner out with their baby.  They also talked to the owner about it being pram accessible and a staff member explained that dinner is fine but lunch tends to be very busy.



They had different meals but also a few of the same dishes, I had the potatoes, chilli tofu and the tofu dip again. Also some brussel sprouts, a chickpea dish, salad, some plain rice, another dip and much more.

Toby is a huge fan too, he tends to choose the high protein dishes and fell in love with a Japanese style broth with tofu and veggies last weekend so much that he tried to recreate it at home with no success.

It will definitely become a regular eat out option.

It has been blogged about by mocchi eats, wheres the beef twice, juganaut, words@random, confessions of a food nazi, Fitzroyalty and the Big V.

Munster Haus
371 St Georges Rd
North Fitzroy
Mon - Thu: 09:00-16:30
Fri - Sat: 09:00-20:00

Sunflower Organics Cafe and Wholefoods Store.

We love Daylesford so was very excited when we received a very generous voucher for accommodation and entry to the Hepburn spring spa. We went last weekend and we had a great week enjoying the usual places like Chocolate Mill and the Himalaya bakery. The spa was excellent and contained something called spa couches which were truly amazing!!!.

We also went to a new vegan cafe called Sunflower Organic Cafe and Wholefoods store which had only been open for a few weeks. We tried to go for dinner one night but discovered it was closed so went back the following morning for breakfast. We had both had the sunflower big breakfast. They made mine gf by replacing tempeh with plain tempeh and choosing potato rosti instead of the toast. It contained baked beans, tempeh, fried tomatoes, spinach, mushroom and the rosti. It was enjoyable, I loved the thinly sliced and fried tempeh but I did add some more tamari to flavour the spinach. Also the rostis were a little undercooked. The service was excellent though and they were so excellent about making things gf. The breakfast is normally served with fried apple which I'm so curious about but they didn't have any that morning.

I couldn't resist trying just a couple of their raw desserts, I had the orange chocolate cake and the lemon ball. Both were sweet and tasty but the orange choc cake was my fave because it was so creamy.

Sunflower Organic Cafe and Wholefoods store
1 Knox Street
Daylesford
5348 3637

"Battered" Fried Chickpeas

Excuse these horrible photos!

I've tried a few times to make baked chickpeas like the ones you can buy in the supermarket, but they always end up a soggy dissapointment. Thankfully I've found a way around it. These pan fried chickpeas are not as crunchy but they have a slightly crisp outer shell and still remain soft inside. I actually prefer the texture of these. I've made them several times and each time adapt the seasoning to include garlic powder, onion powder, and smoked paprika. I normally serve it with some gluten free pasta, basic lemon-olive oil dressing and some cheezy and some veggies (broccoli thrown into pasta water). Its a pretty fast weeknight meal if you used canned chickpeas.

"Battered” Fried Chickpeas from Oh She Glows
Yield: 1.5 cups (I normally make a triple batch)

Ingredients:

    1 tbsp oil
    1 (15-oz or 450gram) can chickpeas, drained and rinsed
    2-2.5 tbsp nutritional yeast
    1/4 tsp garlic powder
    1/4 tsp Herbamare (or use kosher salt)
    freshly ground black pepper, to taste
    Pinch of cayenne pepper, optional

1. Heat 1 tbsp oil in a medium-sized skillet over medium heat.

2. Meanwhile, drain and rinse the chickpeas. When the skillet has pre-heated (chickpeas should sizzle on it), carefully add the drained chickpeas to the skillet. Be very careful as they will sizzle and crackle in the oil and it may splash you.

3. Fry the chickpeas, stirring every 20 seconds or so, over medium heat. After a few minutes, stir in the rest of the ingredients to taste. The chickpeas will have a thin coating on them. Fry for about 5-6 more minutes, stirring frequently and making sure they don’t burn. If they are starting to burn, reduce heat. They should be golden and lightly charred in some parts.

Rilakkuma liked them too