Questions, and hopefully answers, about cooking chickpeas in a pressure cooker
Q. How long do I soak chickpeas before pressure cooking
A. More than 4 hours, less than 24
Q. Do I have to soak chickpeas before pressure cooking?
A. No, but they have a significantly longer cooking time.
Q. Is there a way to quick soak chickpeas if I forgot?
A. Yes. Cover them with boiling water and then after 1 hour drain and replace with new water and cook like soaked. It might need a little extra time.
Q. How long do I cook them and at what pressure?
A. It gets complicated. Basically high pressure, slow/natural release where you turn off the heat and wait for the pressure to go down on its own. As for time...
Presoaked, electric pressure cooker, high, 18 to 20 min, slow release
Presoaked, stovetop pressure cooker, high 12 to 15 min, slow release
Not soaked, electric pressure cooker, high, 45 to 50 min, slow release
Not soaked, stovetop pressure cooker, high 40 to 45 min, slow release.
These are starting places. Observe how your cooker behaves and adjust accordingly.
Q. How much water do I need per cup of chickpeas?
A. I'm not sure. More than the minimum amount for that specific cooker. I generally put double the amount of the dry peas, so if I have two cups of dry chickpeas, I use four cups of water. Too much water isn't a problem, but takes longer to come up to pressure. Too little can burn. If you find the ideal amount of water per cup of dry chickpeas, please let us know,
A. Another option is to put enough water so that there are two inches of water above however much chickpeas you’ve put in.
Q. But what if I don't have a pressure cooker?
A. soak overnight (or longer—up to 3 days sometimes) and then cook for about 2-3 hours in a heavy pot. I will also turn it off and cover it and walk away, then come back and cook some more, until it’s soft enough for whoever is eating.
Q. How much chickpeas will it make?
A. It depends on the age and cultivar of the chickpeas. Generally, 2 cups of dry chickpeas makes about 4 cans worth of chickpeas, or four meals of chickpeas for one person.
Q. Do they have to be boring chickpeas?
A. Of course not. You can add lots of tasty things to your chickpeas while they cook like garlic, onion, bay, cumin, chiles, whatever.
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