Crispy Chickpea, Avocado & Lemon Toast
The chickpeas rattle around getting crisp while the bread toasts beside them in the same basket, picking up the cumin oil on the way.
Why it works
Chickpeas patted properly dry crisp in eight minutes at 200°C; any water left clinging to them steams the skins soft instead. The bread joins them for the final three minutes and comes out dry-edged and rigid, which is what lets it hold a thick layer of mashed avocado without collapsing.
Method
- Heat the air fryer to 200°C (400°F). Tip the dry chickpeas into the basket, add the oil, cumin, paprika and salt, and toss until evenly coated.
- Air fry for 5 minutes, shaking hard at the halfway point.
- Shake again, push the chickpeas to one side and lay the bread slices flat on top of them. Air fry for a further 3 minutes: the chickpeas should crack rather than squash when pressed, and the bread should be toasted and dry at the edges.
- Meanwhile, halve the avocados, scoop the flesh into a bowl and mash roughly with the lemon juice, grated garlic and a good pinch of salt. Leave it lumpy.
- Spread the avocado thickly over the toast, spoon the hot chickpeas on top, and scatter with sumac, chilli flakes and parsley. Serve with lemon wedges.
For the toddler
Hold back a spoonful of chickpeas at step 1, before the oil, cumin and salt, and crush them with a fork for theirs. Mash a little avocado with lemon before the garlic and salt go into the bowl at step 4, and keep the chilli flakes and sumac off. Dry, rigid toast is hard going, so give them a soft slice spread thickly rather than the crisped one, cut into fingers.
How the toddler notes workChef’s notes
Butter beans crisp in the same window and go creamier inside. Tahini loosened with lemon and water instead of avocado.
Drain and dry the chickpeas the night before and leave them uncovered in the fridge; they crisp a minute quicker.
A soft-boiled egg halved over each slice, or a second tin of chickpeas in the basket.
The chickpeas keep 3 days in an open jar at room temperature and stay crisp. Mashed avocado does not keep; make only what you need.