Chickpea, chocolate and pistachio pudding

While I am an avid collector of cookery books, I rarely use them for recipes, more for reading or for inspiration. However, I recently bought a copy of the Comptoir Libanais Express cook book and whilst flicking through the pages a recipe caught my attention - one for a chickpea and chocolate dessert. I have to say I was both repulsed and also intrigued by the idea. While I like to think I am pretty open minded as far as food goes (if it's veggie then I'll eat absolutely anything) I have a problem with sweet beans. Some things, as far as my mind goes, are meant to be savoury, and while I am happy to make cookies and halva using chickpea flour, in my mind cooked chickpeas themselves are savoury and the thought of making a pudding with them seemed to be the antithesis of all that is right in the world.

However, I do love a challenge, and was curious so I decided to try and make it. I've adapted the recipe somewhat, the original called for gelatine (I substituted cornflour / cornstarch), and used ground almonds (I've substituted pistachios). I also added some orange blossom water, and rather than a chocolate (or carob) sauce I decided on an orange blossom syrup. 
So... what was the end result like? Actually very nice. The texture was a little grainy, though that was more due to me not having a decent blender and doing the best I could with a stick blender, the taste was quite delicious though. I put a couple of the desserts in the freezer, as I think it could work quite well as a dairy free ice cream...

Ingredients
1 400g can of chickpeas (drained and rinsed)
400ml almond milk
1 tablespoon cocoa powder
50 g honey (to make it vegan use agave syrup)
5 tablespoons cornflour
100g pistachios
125g dark chocolate
2 tablespoons orange blossom water
Rose water syrup
Chopped pistachios 
Rose petals (optional)

1. Add the chickpeas and almond milk to a pan, bring to the boil then turn off the heat and leave for 15-20 minutesto infuse
2. Pour off around 50ml of the almond milk and add to the cornflour, mixing well until you have a smooth lumpess paste
3. Blend the chickpeas, almond milk and cocoa powder until smooth
4. Pour the mixture back into the pan, add the honey and chocolate. Heat gently until the chocolate has fully melted
5. Stir in the cornflour and almond milk mixture and continue to cook on a low heat for around 5 minutes
6. Turn off the heat and add the ground pistachios and orange blossom water
7. Pour the mixture into ramekins (makes enough for around 6) and leave to cool before refrigerating for a few hours
8. To serve tip out on a plate and decorate with nuts and rose petals. Delicious with a fragrant orange blossom syrup (2 parts sugar to one part water, orange blossom water added to taste)