Chickpeas miniballs

[chocolat]

Another idea to have a vegetarian-vegan substitute for meat. They are perfect to prepare in advance for lunch-box and you can also put it in the freezer.
http://cookinginrome.blogspot.com/2008/02/chickpeas-mini-balls-polpettine-di-ceci.html

[Nyx]

the instructions for that recipe make no sense. And what are chickpea flakes? And then why does it say to cook chickpeas? I'm so confused and they look so good I want to try them but dont know how!

[Korn]

And what are chickpea flakes? And then why does it say to cook chickpeas? I'm so confused and they look so good I want to try them but dont know how!

Hi Nyx,

if you google 'channa choor', you may find more info about chickpea flakes. When it says to cook the chickpeas for 5 minutes, it's probably just a mistake: cooking chickpeas for 5 minutes doesn't make sense anyway. If you can find chickpea flakes, maybe try to cook them for 5 minutes and see how the recipe turns out. Or use cooked chickpeas instead...?

[chocolat]

Hi on my chickpeas flakes package's instructions , it says that I have to cook them for 5 minute, anyway you can use chickpes puree with a mixer.Let me know...Chocolat.

[Penny]

I've just splashed out on a Vitamix and thought it might be OK to use tinned chickpeas for this. I haven't tried it yet, though, as I haven't unpacked the V-M yet. Still drooling over the recipe book! But I'll report back... What's 'gomasio', though?

These sound a lot like felafel, which I've never managed to stop turning into mush.:(

[harpy]

Chickpea flour does seem to cook quite fast compared with whole dried chickpeas, so perhaps the same is true of the flakes. Gomasio is sesame salt I think - looked that up only yesterday so can still remember!

[mariana]

Yeah, gomasio is sesame salt. I think it's used as a condiment in Japan (and apparently in the macriobiotic diet).

[chocolat]

Yes gomasio , is sesame with salt, you can do it at home or add sesame seeds to the recipe.

[Nyx]

Gomashio sometimes also has seaweed dried and ground up in it. Very wonderful thing to sprinkle on salads and in soups, etc.

Thanks Korn, I shall see if I can find chickpea flakes though :)

[fiamma]

These sound a lot like felafel, which I've never managed to stop turning into mush.:(

You need to make felafel using soaked, UNCOOKED chickpeas; put them in your food processor with whatever other ingredients you're using, then make that mixture into patties and fry them.

Perhaps that's where you're going wrong? I can post a recipe if you'd like.

[Penny]

Thank you! ^ That would be great. :) I've got a Vita-Mix now (since Wednesday!) so that should be easy to do...

[mariana]

Ooh, I'd like your falafel recipe too! Please post, fiamma! :)

[Marrers]

Amazing photo of you on your blog chocolat, you should post that here in the Photos thread!

What is Vita-Mix Penny? I didn't notice that was required in the recipe. :confused:
eta Oh, I now assume it might be a food processor - I was thinking it was another ingredient I hadn't heard of! :o

[fiamma]

Ok, here goes - felafel recipe taken from Rose Elliot's "Vegan Feasts"

250g/9oz/1 1/3 cups dried chickpeas
25g/1oz/ 1/2 cup fresh parsley, thick stalks removed
1 garlic clove, roughly sliced
1 onion, roughly chopped
1tsp ground coriander
1tsp ground cumin
1tsp sea salt
oil for frying

1) Put chickpeas in roomy bowl and cover generously with cold water. Leave to soak for 24 hours.

2) Drain and rinse chikpeas and put in food processor together with the rest of the ingredients (apart from the oil :D).

3) Whizz to a grainy paste which holds together. If it's on the wet side, chill in the fridge for an hour or so.

4) Heat the oil until it forms bubbles around the end of a chopstick dipped into it. Form walnut-sized pieces, then flatten a little. Fry for 2-3 minutes until crisp and brown on the outside, then drain on kitchen paper.

5) Serve immediately or freeze them. To heat after freezing, microwave or grill.

[mariana]

Awesome! Thanks, Fiamma! I have all the ingredients so I think I'm going to make them tomorrow! :D

[fiamma]

Glad to be of help :)

I've only made the recipe once, but do remember they were kind of heavy on the parsley - which I'm not wild about - so you might want to bear that in mind if you're not a great parsley fan :)

ETA: Let us know how they turn out!

[mariana]

Glad to be of help :)

I've only made the recipe once, but do remember they were kind of heavy on the parsley - which I'm not wild about - so you might want to bear that in mind if you're not a great parsley fan :)

ETA: Let us know how they turn out!
Thanks for the tip! I'm not a huge fan of parsley, so I think I'll go light on it. That does sound like a LOT of parsley! I'll let you know how they turn out. :)

[Penny]

Fiamma, thanks so much for that recipe! I'll be trying it out this weekend.

Marrers, a Vita-Mix is THE blender! It costs an arm and a leg and we're totally skint, but we added to the credit card debt and bought one. It blends everything so you can make spreads and smoothies (using all the edible parts of a vegetable or fruit) etc because it's so powerful. No, I'm not on commission. I wish I were! At our last Scottish Vegans potluck, I could have sold a few of them! This morning I've just had a smoothie made with an apple, a pear, a large chunk of raw broccoli and some berry juice. It was enough for me and the two grown-up offspring and it was very tasty!

Back on-topic: so it'll be very good at chopping the raw chickpeas! :)

[mariana]

Well, I finally got around to trying out the falafel recipe...thanks, fiamma! :D They are really delicious. I modified it quite a bit (I have a tendency to). Here's approximately what I used:
250g/9oz/1 1/3 cups dried chickpeas
2 T fresh parsley, thick stalks removed
2 garlic clove, roughly sliced
1/2 onion, roughly chopped
2 T fresh coriander, chopped
pinch garlic powder
1 tsp paprika
pinch cayenne
1 T sesame seeds
1 1/4 tsp ground cumin
1tsp sea salt
oil for frying

I had a lot of trouble blending it (I have a really cheap blender) so I had to add quite a bit of water (maybe around 1 cup). To balance that out, I added flour until it seemed like approximately the right consistency (I had no idea what that would be, but I added flour until it formed little balls without falling apart). I also didn't have enough oil to fry it properly but it still worked out. All in all I'm extremely pleased how they turned out. :thumbsup: Thanks fiamma!