SC - Roasted Chickpeas?

[Christine Seelye-King]

A friend recently sent me this recipe and asked me a question about it.  It
calls for toasted chickpeas.  She has dried chickpeas, and wondered what to
do with them.   Roasting the dried chickpeas and then grinding them into a
flour?  Re-hydrating them and then toasting them?  She ultimately used
sesame seeds instead and had them with her this weekend. They were very
good, but we are still wondering about those garbanzos.
Anyone?
Christianna

Hulwa (Ibn al-Mabrad p.19): Its varieties are many. Among them are the
sweets made of natif. You put dibs [fruit syrup], honey, sugar or rubb
[thick fruit syrup] in the pot, then you put it on a gentle fire and stir
until it takes consistency. Then you beat eggwhite and put it with it and
stir until it thickens and becomes natif. After that, if you want almond
candy you put in toasted almonds and 'allaftahu; that is, you bind them.
walnuts, pistachios, hazelnuts, toasted chickpeas, toasted sesame, flour.
[apparently alternative versions]. You beat in the natif until thickens. For
duhniyyah you put in flour toasted with fat. As for ... (other versions.)
[end of original]
Sugar version:	Honey version:
1 1/4 c sugar	1 c honey
1/4 c water
1 egg white	1 egg white
1 1/2 - 2 c nuts = ~10 oz	2 1/2-3 c or more nuts
This makes 25-40 hulwa, depending on size.
Sugar version: Bring the water to a boil, stir in the sugar, continuing to
heat. When it is dissolved and reasonably clear, turn it down to a simmer
and put the top on the pot for two or three minutes (this is to let the
steam wash down any sugar on the sides of the pot). Take the top off, boil
gently until the temperature reaches the hard ball stage (250deg. -260deg.
F). Beat the egg white until it is just stiff enough to hold its shape. Pour
the sugar syrup into the egg white, beating continuously. You now have a
thick white mixture; this is the natif. Mix it with chopped nuts (we have
used almonds and walnuts) or toasted sesame seeds, or some mixture thereof.
Squeeze the mixture into balls and set them aside to cool. Note that as the
natif cools, it gets harder and less sticky, so you have to work quickly;
the hotter you get the syrup before combining it with the egg white (and
hence the less water ended up in it), the faster this happens and the dryer
the hulwa ends up. If you get past 260deg. , the syrup may crystallize on
you as or before you pour it; if so, give up and start over. This makes
about 20-30 hulwa.
Honey version: Simmer the honey gently until it reaches a temperature of
290deg. -300deg. F. From that point on, the recipe is the same as for sugar,
using the boiled honey instead of the sugar syrup. Note that honey requires
a higher temperature than sugar to get the same effect. Also note that natif
made from honey will be stickier than natif made from sugar (maybe you can
solve this by getting the honey up to 310deg. without burning it; I
couldn't). Hence use a higher ratio of nuts to natif, and have the nuts
chopped more finely; this helps reduce the stickiness.
This is a fifteenth century Islamic candy recipe, rather similar to modern
divinity. Be careful with the hot sugar syrup; it is hotter than boiling
water, also harder to get off you, and you can burn yourself seriously.