So how do the chickpeas cook if you don’t boil them? you might be thinking. I was thinking that the first several times I made falafel with this method. The trick is to remember that cooking beans is a two-step process. One step is adding water (hydration), while the second step is adding heat (actual cooking). To get tender, cooked chickpeas, you need to complete both steps. But nobody ever said they have to be done at the same time.
Just as I’ve found that pasta can be hydrated and cooked in two distinct steps, so can beans. I weighed batches of chickpeas that I’d soaked in water overnight against those that I’d soaked and then cooked in order to gauge how much additional water gets taken up during the boiling phase. I discovered that by the time the chickpeas have soaked in water overnight, they’ve actually absorbed pretty much all of the liquid they’re ever going to absorb.
