Recipe: Chickpea fritters in lettuce cups with tzatziki

Serve with Intellego Chenin Blanc 2016.

These chickpea fritters are served lettuce cups with tzatziki – making them a light and guilt-free lunch or post-work snack.

Yield

This recipe serves 4 people.

Chickpea fritter recipe ingredients

• 400g dried chickpeas, soaked overnight in cold water
• 2 tbsp (30ml) olive oil
• 1 onion, finely chopped
• 1 clove of garlic, crushed
• 1 tsp (5ml) ground coriander
• 1 tsp (5ml) ground cumin
• 1 tsp (5ml) turmeric
• 1 chilli, deseeded and finely chopped
• ¼ cup (60ml) fresh breadcrumbs
• 1 egg, lightly beaten
• 15g fresh coriander, roughly chopped
• Juice of ½ lemon
• Vegetable oil, for frying
• Butter lettuce, for serving
• Tzatziki, for serving

Cooking method

How to cook dried chickpeas

1. Drain chickpeas and rinse under cold running water.
2. Transfer chickpeas to a pot and cover with double the amount of water. Bring to the simmer and cook, covered for about 1 hour or until chickpeas are tender.
3. Drain and allow to cool before making the fritters.

Alternatively, if you are using canned chickpeas, open tin, drain and rinse well.

For the chickpea fritters

1. Heat olive oil in a frying pan and gently sauté onion, garlic, ground coriander, cumin, turmeric and chilli for a few minutes or until soft and fragrant. Remove from heat and set aside.
2. Place chickpeas into a bowl and using a fork, crush lightly until relatively smooth but still chunky.
3. Add the fried onions, breadcrumbs, egg and chopped coriander to the chickpeas and mix to combine.
4. Season with salt, freshly ground pepper and squeeze of lemon juice.
5. Shape into small patties and refrigerate for 30 minutes, allowing them to firm slightly.
6. Heat a little oil in a frying pan and fry patties for about 2 minutes on each side or until golden brown.

Serve warm in butter lettuce cups topped with tzatziki.

Wine pairing

This full-flavoured but not particularly spicy apetizer is pretty versatile with wine – a Chenin Blanc with good fruit concentration should work well.