Charcoal crackers topped with sumac spiced chickpeas and Turkish cacik
Gourmet food stores make my heart melt. The reaction at spotting one is similar to what shopaholics experience at the sight of the word ‘sale’. I rush inside and grab a whole lot of things I know nothing about.
At a recent trip, I bagged a box of charcoal crackers. The way dill crackers are laced with dill and chive with chives, these are flavoured with a small percentage of charcoal powder.
The salty, slim sheets are stark black in colour and have a carbony bite. Their texture is similar to a pie shell – brittle and crumbly.
Though the crackers went miraculously well with blobs of brie, I couldn’t resist this little adventure.
Ingredients for sumac spiced chickpeas
1 cup chick peas (boiled)
1 tablespoon olive oil
½ tablespoon sumac spice
1 teaspoon dry thyme
1 teaspoon dry rosemary
1 teaspoon dry fennel
1 teaspoon dry basil
1 teaspoon garlic powder
1 teaspoon dry parsley
2 teaspoon pepper powder
Method:
In a blender, mix all the ingredients together (except chickpeas and olive oil) and grind it into a course powder.
To make the topping, mix the above mixture with olive oil and add boiled chickpeas to it.
Ingredients for Turkish cacik
1 cucumber (peeled and finely grated)
½ teaspoon olive oil
½ cup thick yogurt (chilled)
2 garlic cloves (minced)
Salt to taste
Method:
In a bowl, mix all the ingredients together and refrigerate them until use.
To serve: Top the charcoal crackers with the spiced chickpeas and cacik. Garnish with coriander stalk and serve.
Gorgeous!!!!
Thank you very much. I appreciate 🙂
Su plating che yaar! Aaj sudhi no best photo che aa taro!
Thank you, Manali. You are such a support! What would I do without you? 🙂
Oh! This looks delicious! Never heard of or tried those crackers before, and I don’t eat much of chickpeas, but this looks and sounds delicious! 🙂
Thank you for your comment.
Looks very interesting!
Thank you, Abbie.
Looks very interesting! Thanks for dropping by my blog today! I promise I´ll make your recipe this week, looks pretty good!
I appreciate that! Come and tell me how it turned out.
This looks (and sounds) amazing!
It tastes amazing too! Try it.
what a beautiful dish…and the crackers sound so interesting. I enjoy chick peas topping a slice of toasted baguette – a bruschetta … a nice healthy little appetizer – this recipe sounds delicious.
Hey. Thank you very much. I’m going to try chickpea with toasted baguette soon 🙂
Looks amazing! Chickpeas always taste great. This is a really different and interesting way to prepare them, I’m convinced that it tastes as good as it looks:)
Aww! You are so generous with your compliments. I appreciate 🙂
I would like to know more abot the charcoal crackers. What did they really taste like? Where did you find them? What brand? If anyone else tried them I would like to know what they experienced.
I like trying strange things myself.
These crackers are from The Fine Cheese Co. They are extremely buttery at first. A few bites later, this malty-carbony taste envelops your mouth. I found them on a gourmet website called gourmetco.in.
This looks very nice and I love the combination of spices. Definitely a must-try. 😉
Thank you. Do come back and tell me how you liked it 🙂
Looks delicious! I just need you to whip it up for me 🙂 Is Turkish cacik the same thing as tzatziki sauce? I have made that before and it seems to be the same ingredients. Love it.
Yes, Caroline. Tzatziki and Turkish cacik are cousins 🙂
Sounds rather yummy. Do you really need to do the first part in a blender? Can you not just mix them, or use a pestle and mortar?
I live you blog name. Thank you for visiting my page.
Before I venture further, is this a vegetarian page or are you meaty too?
This is a vegetarian page, but I hope that doesn’t stop you for venturing further. I promise to keep you entertained 😉 Using mortar and pestle to grind spices is always a good idea. It doesn’t burn the flavours. However since everyone doesn’t have mortar and pestle handy, I gave a simpler alternative.
no it encourages me to visit. I am vegetarian!
I’m super glad 🙂
Super glad!
What a unique recipe! I’ve never heard of charcoal crackers but I wish I could taste one!
Thank you for dropping by.
I don’t have sumac, and I wouldn’t be able to eat those crackers (I assume they contain gluten), but I might give this a whirl with some lemon juice in place of the sumac and some g-f crackers. Looks enticing!
You can use chilli powder, if you don’t have sumac 🙂 Thank you for dropping by.
WOW! Yummy!
Thank you!
It looks yummy! 🙂 Im just curious about that charcoal thing. haha..
It is brilliant! You should try!
Interesting…charcoal crackers–never tried them before. Sales at gourmet food stores are so fun…more fun than shoe sales =)
Ha ha…I’ve never been to a bake sale or a gourmet food store stale yet…but I bet i’d choose it over any shoe sale 🙂
sounds great! my other half wants to know when he can come over? 🙂
Tell him, you will cook this for him soon 😛
Wow..interesting gourmet dish! I’ve never heard of charcoal crackers! Must try this. Thanks for stopping by my blog.
Thank you for dropping by too.
Thanks to this blog I went in search of charcoal crackers but I found other strange flavored crackers. I found World Market Black Sesame wasabi rice crackers. They were flat and the spiciness hit my tongue like pop rocks. It was like a tingly on my tongue.
Wow. Now your comment makes me want to go find these black sesame and wasabi rice crackers!
Hi there! I’ve been looking for the ingredients, and I have a problem with the sumac, I don`t have a clue of what it is! Could you please guide me? Or tell me a good choice to replace it with??
Hi, just wanted you to know that I’ve nominated you for The Versatile Blogger Award. Please visit http://www.susartandfood.wordpress.com for more details. 🙂
How sweet! Thank you. I truly appreciate 🙂