I have a serious crush on chickpea flour. So savoury, so satisfying, so versatile! I’ve been making chickpea fritters for years, always blending the batter with vegetables then frying them, but it’s taken me this long to discover socca, the European traditional flatbread. Since socca doesn’t have an overwhelming taste of its own, it’s a perfect blank canvas for loading up with flavour.
I’ve run with Sarah Wilson’s genius idea of fermenting the batter overnight, since anything fermented is a bonanza for our gut biome & easier for digestion. In the photo above, I’ve added another ferment – the socca ‘pancake’ is sprinkled with lentils, cavolo nero & tangy red sauerkraut.
I also urge you to play around with toppings/fillings. A lot of people use cheeses, similar to pizza (try it, if it’s your thing – put cheese etc on top & pop it back in the oven to melt) but in the photos here, you’ll see I’ve played around with unusual flavours, like my Hearty Lemony Lentils (recipe here) and my Kumara Lentil Dip (here). For summery socca, try avocado, hummus & fresh greens. For wintery warming, load it up with chopped roast vegetables & herbs.
1 cup water
1 cup chickpea flour (besan, chana)
1 tsp ground cumin
1 tsp garlic granules
1 tsp salt
oil for frying
Mix the chickpea flour and water thoroughly in a bowl. Stir through the cumin & garlic granules, then cover with a tea-towel, clean cloth or wrap. Leave for 24-48 hours. In warm weather, you’ll find it ferments fairly quickly, sending a few bubbles to the surface.
When the batter is ready, mix through the salt, and decide how you want to cook it:
For cute little socca bites, heat the oven to 175C and get out a muffin tray (or two!) Grease each muffin cavity well, and pour about 1 good tablespoon of batter into each hole. Bake for 10-12 minutes. The batter will start to pull away from the edges and may go a little golden.
For bigger pancakes: heat a little oil in the pan, then pour in enough socca batter to thinly cover the base of your pan, like a pancake. Fry over a medium heat, pile some toppings on top while the batter is still wet and let it cook through – a little crisping around the edges is good.
For my other chickpea flour recipes, try the kale-packed Green Fritters here or the chunkier Cauliflower Cumin Fritters here.
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