These crunchy chickpea roasted potatoes are a great way to make spuds healthy and more delicious than ever. Baby potatoes are tossed in a savory mix of chickpea flour and spices, and roasted in a piping hot oven.

If I could eat potatoes every day, I’d be the happiest person ever. Happy, happy, happy. I have probably told you this story only a dozen times before, about how, as a kid, the only thing I would eat in a restaurant — even a fancy one — was potato chips, or fries. They could be hot and fresh or soggy and dripping with oil, I could put them down, no questions asked.

Once I was old enough to handle basic cooking, I developed an even closer relationship with my BFFs. So much so that if I decided to make anything with a potato in it, chances that it would make it to the dinner table for others to eat dropped rather drastically.

Time is a harsh teacher, and now that my waistline is not as unforgiving of those carb follies as it once used to be, I have learned to scale back my obsessive love for potatoes. Er, did I say scale back? Correct that to controlled. Reluctant, screaming-out-to-be-free controlled. Because I still pick up that bag of potatoes at the grocery store almost every other week, and although I am better at sharing, I do have to convince myself sometimes not to steal down in the middle of the night to pop a spud into the microwave and eat it with my fingers, standing over the sink, skin and all. True story.

These crunchy chickpea roasted potatoes are SO MUCH better than a microwaved spud. The great thing is, they can be made with no added fat except for a quick spritz from one of those zero-calorie cooking sprays. It takes all of two minutes to mix up the chickpea flour with some spices, and then another five minutes, tops, to prep your baby potatoes. After that it’s into the oven and 45 minutes of hands-free time later while you catch up with your other BFF, hello gorgeous golden potatoes!

You want to be sure and use less batter– you want a light coating of chickpea flour and spices on the potatoes, not a heavy, pakora-type batter that puffs up around it. As delicious as that would be, I love the lighter, cleaner flavor of these less encumbered potatoes.

Did I say they were super-easy? And had the shortest ingredient list for a dish of such delicious proportions? So what are you waiting for?

Ingredients

• 1 ½ pounds new potatoes, halved or quartered if large (I used a mix of yellow, red and purple potatoes)
• 2 tablespoon chickpea flour or besan
• 1 tablespoon rice flour
• ¼ teaspoon turmeric
• ¼ teaspoon cumin seeds
• ¼ teaspoon ajwain or carom seeds, optional
• ½ teaspoon paprika
• ¼ teaspoon red pepper flakes
• ½ teaspoon dijon mustard, optional
• Salt to taste
• ¼ cup water

Instructions

• Preheat the oven to 400 degrees Fahrenheit.
• Pound the cumin seeds and carom seeds in a mortar and pestle until coarsely powdered.
• Place the powdered seeds and all other ingredients except the potatoes in a bowl. Mix well and drizzle in the water, using a small wire whisk to ensure there are no lumps.
• Toss the potatoes in this mixture, ensuring each potato gets coated.
• Line a baking sheet with parchment paper and spritz the surface with a cooking spray. Place the potatoes on the baking sheet, ensuring they are spread evenly and do not overlap.
• Spritz once more with the cooking spray and place in the hot oven. Roast for 45 minutes, turning over once halfway through roasting with a spatula, or until the potatoes are golden and cooked.
• Garnish with some cilantro, if you wish, and serve hot as a snack or a side.