Farinata
One of my favourite twists to making chickpea tofu is to turn it into farinata instead. Farinata is a thin chickpea pancake that originated in Genoa and is known in France as ‘socca’. Traditionally, it’s made from chickpea flour, but just like with the Burmese-styled tofu, you can start with whole, dried chickpeas.
Ingredients
- 100 g dried chickpeas
- 60 g olive oil
- 5 g rosemary
- flakey salt
- black pepper
Instructions
- Soak the chickpeas overnight in 3x the amount of water.
- The next day, drain the chickpeas and pulse them in a food processor (I used my Vitamix) to break down slightly. Then add 220 ml of water and blend until smooth. Pour the mixture into a bowl, mix in half of the olive oil and let it sit for around 2 hours (or up to 12).
- Half an hour before the batter has rested long enough, pick the rosemary leaves and finely chop them. Pre-heat the oven along with a large non-stick frying pan to 220°C. When the batter is ready, add the rosemary to the bowl along with 1/2 tsp salt.
- Remove the pan from the oven and drizzle in the remaining olive oil. Slowly pour in the batter and twirl and shake the pan to evenly spread it out. Then place the pan back in the oven and bake the farinata for 25 minutes (a chopstick should come out clean). With this method, the bottom tends to be crispier and more golden, so I usually flip the farinata by placing a plate on top and turning the pan upside down. Drizzle with extra-virgin olive oil and sprinkle with flakey sea salt and freshly ground pepper. Serve warm.