There are so many things to love about chickpea fries—for starters you can make the base for this dish ahead of time and then fry up the fries just before you want to serve them. Also, I’ve added some crunched-up chickpeas into the mix for texture. And who ever thought of pairing these lovelies with a raw zucchini and onion salad? Look at me—always thinking up something new! Add a couple of grilled shrimp and some pine nuts, and you have something really special.
Recipe information
Yield
serves: 4
Ingredients
for the chickpea fries
for the salad
Preparation
FOR THE CHICKPEA FRIES
Step 1
Put 2 cups water in a small saucepan, salt well, and bring to a boil (BTB) over high heat. Reduce the heat to low, whisk in the chickpea flour, and cook over low heat for 3 to 4 minutes, or until the mixture begins to thicken. Toss in the cumin, cayenne, and crushed chickpeas. When it’s done, the mixture will be thick like mashed potatoes, about 15 minutes. Taste it—it should be REALLY good; if it isn’t, reseason.
Step 2
Spread the mixture out in a lightly oiled 9-inch baking dish and chill until fully set, at least an hour (this can be done in advance).
Step 3
Cut the chilled mix into thick sticks, 3/4 to 1 inch wide. Coat a nonstick sauté pan with olive oil and bring to high heat. While the oil heats, set up your drying situation next to the stove by putting a couple layers of paper towels on a baking sheet. Working in batches, cook the fries on all sides until golden and crispy, 3 to 4 minutes per side. Remove and drain on the paper towels, sprinkle with salt, and keep warm in a low oven.
FOR THE SALAD
Step 4
Preheat a grill.
Step 5
In a medium bowl, toss the shrimp with olive oil to coat and season with salt.
Step 6
Put the zucchini, onion, arugula, and pine nuts in a large bowl and toss with lemon juice and olive oil. Season with salt and make sure it tastes delicious!
Step 7
Grill the shrimp, turning once, until no longer translucent, 4 to 6 minutes total.
Step 8
Arrange the salad on serving plates and top each with a couple of chickpea fries and 2 shrimp.
note
Step 9
When you go to a fish store you might see numbers next to the shrimp. These numbers correlate to how many shrimp are in a pound (for example, 12/15 means there are between twelve and fifteen shrimp in a pound). The bigger the number, the more shrimp per pound; the smaller the number, the bigger the shrimp! For this recipe I recommend really big shrimp.
ANNE ALTERNATE
Step 10
These chickpea fries are also really good with aïoli—check out the recipe on page 82 for a Q&E (quick and easy) dipper for these lovelies!
