Thursday, January 12, 2012

Zucchini and Chickpea Pancakes


I've seen chickpea pancakes around the blogosphere (can't remember where now though) and they always looked so good. And this one used up some of that CSA zucchini I keep on mentioning. I love how easy this is. Like a frittata or omelette but vegan. Usually I would use tofu to make something like this so the chickpea flour was a nice change. To make it a meal just add some steamed or roasted vegetables on the side, or cut it up into pieces and put it on a salad. Ooo now that I'm thinking about it, I bet a peanut sauce for dipping would be just excellent. (And I think this is the last zucchini recipe for a while.)

If this sounds good, you might also like:
Healthy Baked Zucchini Fries
Swift, Delicious Bean Salad
Pink Beans with a Cardamom-Yogurt Sauce
Sunflower Lentil Pie

Zucchini and Chickpea Pancakes
Adapted from Just Hungry

Makes 2 large pancakes, which make 2 main dish servings or 4 appetizer/side dish servings

4 cups grated zucchini (about 3 zucchinis)
Some cilantro leaves, chopped
1 cup chickpea flour
1 tsp salt
1 1/2 tsp garam masala
Olive oil for cooking

Put zucchini and cilantro into a large bowl; add the salt, garam masala and the chickpea flour. Mix well - the moisture that comes out of the zucchini may be enough to turn this into a batter, but if not add a tiny bit of water, just so that it turns moist but not runny.

Heat up a small (8 inch / 20cm) non-stick frying pan over medium-high heat. Add some olive oil and spread around. Put in about half of the batter and spread around to form a circle. Cook for about 5 minutes, then turn and cook for another 5 minutes or so, until it’s cooked all the way through. (You can slice into the middle a bit to see if there’s any batter oozing still; if so, cook a bit more.) Repeat for the other half of the batter.

Cut into wedges, and serve hot or at room temperature.

Note: If you want a crispy outside, use more oil in the pan; if you want it soft (and less caloric) add less.

8 comments:

janet @ the taste space said...

Rob and I adore the besan chilla (chickpea four pancake) - we stuff anything in it, too!! Zucchini sounds good... although I think I will miss all your zucchini recipes... they remind what fun I can have in the summer. ;)

Leng said...

oh I haven't had zucchini or chickpeas in so long! Great idea to make pancakes outta 'em!

Wendy said...

It's awesome that you post this recipe - not for the zucchini (I can never find a place for zucchini so I can relate to you there!) but for the chickpea flour.. I bought some a while back and I am having the hardest time finding a place to use it. Every recipe I've tried using chickpea flour so far has had a funky taste to it. :\

Sasha Cohen said...

Woah I've never seen this recipe before. Looks delicious I definitely want to try it!! Thanks!

Jacqueline Meldrum said...

Oh yum! I must try making these for Cooper :)

Joanne said...

I've really been craving pancakes lately. I thought I wanted sweet...but maybe I really want savory! These sound delicious!

grace said...

that's a big ol' pancake, and i like it! i've only ever seen miniscule corn cakes and zuke cakes and potato cakes before, but i like the idea of a full-size version!

SkinnyMommy said...

I so want to try these!