Sunday, March 21, 2010

Farinata (chickpea-pancake) wrap


I've been meaning to post this for a while. Ever since I saw this post, I'd been wanting to make my own version of this wrap. When I researched it, I learned that there are many types of chickpea pancakes. Different cultures have slightly different recipes; India has "papadum," Italy has "la farinata," and France has "socca." Once I finally got my hands on chickpea flour, I made my chickpea pancakes using the Italian method. You can experiment with this wrap, and tweak the ingredients to your liking.

This is what my wrap consisted of:

1 chickpea pancake
1 sheet of whole-wheat flatbread, toasted
Shredded lettuce
Chopped white onion
Fresh sliced tomatoes
A sprinkle of fennel
Sauce made from sour cream, lemon juice, garlic, and Tabasco (to taste)

This was really good. The pancake (farinata) is similar to falafel, but it isn't deep-fried like falafel usually is (and so, it also has less calories...) The toasted flatbread gives it some crunch, plus all the veggies, and the yummy spicy sauce...it's good. :) Plus it's WAY easy to make. Just remember that the pancakes take about an hour to set, so you should plan for that.

Another interesting thing is that you can make hummus from chickpea flour. I tried it one day, because I figured it would be easier to blend than whole chickpeas. Well, I was right. It is easier to make, however it has kind of a strange aftertaste... Probably just gonna save the chickpea flour for farinata.

Thursday, March 11, 2010