Curry Chickpea Fries

This week’s Weekend Shout out is to Sara at Sara’s Kitchen. I’ve had her post on Chickpea Fries bookmarked since February (at least it’s from this year). The fancy name for these is Panisses, and I spotted a recipe on David Lebovtiz’s blog as well. Since I love fries, you can get me to try anything related to, similar to, or just called a fry. What’s awesome about this recipe is that the hardest part is finding the chickpea flour. I’ve heard that some Whole Foods carry it, but I got mine for $2.49 per pound at Ninth Avenue International Grocer.

On most of the recipes I’ve seen, there is a bit of olive oil mixed in to the chickpea flour mixture, I accidentally left that out, but the result was still wonderful. I did purposefully add curry powder, which made it so flavorful, we preferred it without a dipping sauce. Here’s how I ended up making it.

Curry Chickpea Fries
~adapted from Sara’s Kitchen Chickpea Fries
~3 to 4 servings

• 1 teaspoon curry powder
• 1 teaspoon kosher salt, plus extra for sprinkling
• 1/4 teaspoon freshly ground black pepper
• 2 pinches cayenne
• 2 cups water
• 1 cup chickpea flour
• vegetable oil for pan frying

Instructions -

1. Line an 8×8 pan with plastic wrap. Set aside. In a small bowl, mix together curry powder, 1 teaspoon salt, black pepper, and cayenne. Set aside.

2. Bring water to a boil in a small pot on medium high heat. Whisk in chickpea flour gradually so it doesn’t lump together. Turn heat to low and stir in spice mixture, continuing to stir for 1 minute.

3. Pour into prepared pan and smooth top. Cover loosely and chill overnight, or until it’s a pretty solid block.

4. Heat 1/8″ of oil in a shallow pan while you cut the chickpea block into fries: 4″x 1/2″ x 1/2″.

5. Fry all side and remove to a paper towel lined plate. Sprinkle with some more kosher salt and serve immediately.

Notes: These take a bit longer to fry than I expected. Be patient and fry one side at a time, only turning when the side you are frying is really golden.

Lon absolutely loved these and after eating a bunch plain, decided they were reminiscent of Falafel. Makes sense, so he made a pita sandwich with them.

Related posts:

1. Curry Shrimp Scrambled Eggs