The long promised Chickpea Croquettes

My blog might lead you to believe that I enjoy baking at the expense of ‘ordinary’ cooking. Not true that. And here’s one my favorite savoury recipe as proof.  I stumbled across it while searching for banana granola bars – which Good Things Grow has a fabulous recipe for.

Chickpea Croquettes

I typically make the croquettes as finger food, and they work really well with drinks. They go well with some harissa sauce or chilli-tomato ketchup. I must try these with my mom’s super recipe for coriander chutney. Will let you know when I do.

Ingredients

• 1 cup whole wheat flour
• 3/4 cup water
• juice of half a lemon
• 2 teaspoons ground cumin (I use roasted cumin powder)
• 1 1/2 teaspoons salt
• 3 cups cooked chickpeas. I soak dried chickpeas overnight, and pressure-cook them. A can of garbanzo should work equally well
• 1/2 onion, finely chopped
• 1 carrot, shredded
• 1 green chilli, seeded and finely chopped
• 3 cloves garlic, chopped/crushed
• 2 tablespoons coriander, chopped
• 2 tablespoons olive or any other oil

Heat the water. In a large mixing bowl, mix in the salt and cumin powder into the flour. Add the lemon juice and heated water and stir to combine. Add in the rest of the ingredients and mix.

Heat some oil in your largest pan. I have successfully tried both my grill pan, and the hard-anodized saucepan. Drop in a large spoonful of the mixture and shape into coax any errant chickpeas towards the croquettes. Let them sizzle for about 3 to 5 minutes, till they become golden brown. Flip, and repeat. Depending on the size of your pan, you can put in multiple croquettes.  Just ensure that they cook through, as you do not want to bite into undercooked flour.

They are best served hot. I stuck one batch into the oven with the ‘keep warm’ option, which worked well.

So go ahead, soak those chickpeas or open that can of garbanzo. You will not regret it one bit, promise. You will however, be upset that you have not discovered these before.