A small, round, beige legume, chickpeas are also called garbanzo beans and ceci beans. They are bland on their own, but absorb flavour very well, like most beans. Chickpeas are a staple of lebanese cuisine - Falafels are chickpea patties, and Hummus is mashed up chickpeas mixed with lemon, tahini, and various seasonings.

Chick"-pea` (?), n. [See Chich.]

1. Bot.

A Small leguminous plant (Cicer arietinum) of Asia, Africa, and the sounth of Europe; the chick; the dwarf pea; the gram.

2.

Its nutritious seed, used in cookery, and especially, when roasted (parched pulse), as food for travelers in the Eastern deserts.

 

© Webster 1913.