Babo Market

Yesterday, between classes, I hopped over to Babo, a market beneath 411 Lofts with Mallory. An experienced baker, she was looking to gather some ingredients for a few new scone recipes.
In the meantime, I thought I'd peruse the market's latest selection of meats, cheeses and freshly prepared foods. 

I've only been to Babo once before, but every single time I'm in awe of all the specialty and unique foods they serve.

This chickpea salad looked exceptionally phenomenal - I sense a new recipe in the mix!

As I perused, Mallory flitted in and out of the shelves gathering all of the ingredients she needed.

While I didn't originally plan on buying anything, I was distracted by the delicious coffee station - and ultimately tempted into buying a cup of Turkish Coffee when I saw it on their menu for a measly $2.

Despite the numerous delicious coffee shops to be found in Ann Arbor, I've been unpleasantly surprised to find that none of them serve Turkish Cofffee. For those of you who have never tried it before, Turkish Coffee is similar to espresso - super finely ground beans are used to produce a small, rich and very dark cup of coffee (with a hint of sweetness).

Their cream and sugar station is absolutely adorable, but I didn't want to ruin the steaming cup of coffee with anything cold.

Babo also has an extensive wine selection - which I assume I never noticed before because my under-21 eyes forbid me from paying too much attention to things I couldn't obtain.

Now, I know Babo is a pricier market than your average Meijer, but I'm wondering how much profit this place could really be making selling $60 and $70 bottles of wine to college students....

I'll definitely be coming back to grab a bottle of this pumpkin patch ale - so perfect for fall!

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Chickpea Poppers

I adore Indian food. Unfortunately, being of European descent, I'm not very seasoned (pardon the bad pun) at using spices found west of Poland. Fortunately, I was able to use one of my favorite Indian spices when developing this recipe.
Remember several weeks ago when I posted about The Grange? And raved about how delicious their fried chickpea recipe was? And said that I would be re-creating it sometime soon?
Well, the time has come.

I call these bite-sized balls of crunchy and spicy deliciousness "Chickpea Poppers" because they pop and sizzle while they're cooking! Think of them as a spicy alternative to popcorn and feel free to make a bowl during your next movie night.

To make this recipe, you will need:

2 cans chickpeas, drained
1/2 teaspoon curry powder
1 teaspoon smoked paprika

1/4 teaspoon salt
1/8 teaspoon pepper
Olive oil

Start by patting your chickpeas dry and putting them in a bowl.

Sprinkle your curry powder, half of the paprika, and the salt and pepper onto your chickpeas, stirring with a spoon to equally distribute the spices.

Next, pour oil into a large flat-bottomed pan until the bottom is covered with a thin layer. Heat on medium-high until hot, then drop your chickpeas in. Make sure your oil is heated enough, otherwise it'll start to soak into the chickpeas instead of frying their outsides.

Heat the chickpeas for 15 minutes, stirring often, until they turn crispy, golden and bubbly. Like I said, you'll hear them popping as the oil fries them up into airy little spice balls.

Once the chickpeas are browned and covered with a crispy bubbly skin, sprinkle the remaining 1/2 teaspoon of smoked paprika over your chickpeas and stir. Pour them out into a dish and munch away!

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