Chickpea pancakes with fennel and courgette salad
These Sicilian chickpea fritters make a fantastic light summer lunch, paired with a fresh fennel and courgette salad.
Ingredients
For the chickpea pancake
- 225g/8oz chickpea flour (gram flour), sifted
- 1 tsp ground cumin
- ½ tsp ground cinnamon
- ½ tsp dried chili flakes
- ½ bunch coriander, roughly chopped
- vegetable oil, for deep frying
- 4 sesame seed buns, cut in half
- sea salt and freshly ground black pepper
For the salad
Method
Combine the chickpea flour with 750ml/26fl oz of water to make a batter, and season with a good pinch of salt and pepper.
Heat a small pan over a medium heat, and toast the cinnamon, chilli flakes and cumin lightly until fragrant. Transfer the spices to the batter and stir in along with the chopped coriander.
Place the mix into a saucepan over a medium heat and cook slowly, stirring as you go until the batter thickens and comes away from the side of the pan.
Grease a baking tin with oil, pour in the cooked batter (you ideally want a depth of about 0.5cm) and leave to cool to room temperature before transferring to the fridge to chill. When the chickpea cake has set, turn the tin over and remove the chickpea cake from the tin. Cut into rectangles to be fried.
Toss the sliced fennel and courgette with seasoning, lemon juice, vinegar and olive oil and set aside.
Heat the oil for deep frying in a deep-sided pan to 170C. CAUTION: Hot oil can be dangerous. Do not leave unattended. Test the temperature by dropping a small piece of bread into the oil – it should fizz immediately.
Carefully drop in the chickpea rectangles and fry until golden brown. Drain well on a kitchen towel, season with sea salt and serve in the buns with the fennel salad.
