Vegan Grilled Cheese Chickpea Smash

I was eager to make this, but my enthusiasm declined as soon as I noticed the chickpeas weren't mashing properly. I mashed and mashed yet they barely became mashed, so I had to put them in the blender and it was a lot more effort and cleanup. Also the spices seemingly weren't adding any flavor to the chickpeas, despite adding so much of them. The result was blended chickpeas with minimal flavor. The fresh onion and parsley mixture salvaged the flavor, as did the hot sauce I ate it with. Anyone have any suggestions why my attempt didn't pan out? Was too disappointed in my dish to even take a picture of it.