Cooking

Recipe: Besan Fritters

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Recently I looked at my cooking (and yes, I need to post more on it) and realized my Tex-mex and Mediterranean kick had gone a bit far.  So I decided it was time to start diversifying – and as I’d recently got some besan flour (chickpea flour) – also called Gram flour incase you want some – with the intention of making fritters with them.  I’d tried besan fritters once before with some success, and used it in other experiments, but kind of forgot about it.  It’s actually a very popular ingredient in Indian cooking, and you can get it at any Indian market –

First results aren’t perfect, but are a darn good start.  Good enough for me to post without (gasp) perfecting it!

  • 2 cups besan
  • 1/2 tsp salt
  • 1/2 tsp turmeric
  • 1 tsp ground coriander
  • 1 tsp ground cumin
  • 1 cup water
  • 2 tsp lemon juice
  • 2 cup chopped veggies. (1cup peas, 1 cup diced onion)
  1. Mix besan, spices, and water together thoroughly – it’ll create a kid of light dough.
  2. Add lemon juice.  Mix.
  3. Add veggies to the mix.  You may find it needs a bit more water.  Mix thorouhgly.
  4. Separate into eight “lumps.”  It’ll be more like a very sticky dough more than anything else so it’s not too hard, but you are going to want to wash your hands.  Alternately just scoop it out of the bowl as needed, but I like to be regular.
  5. Place the lumps in frying pan/skillet sprayed with cooking spray or sprinkled in olive oil.  Flatten into a cake.  Cook until it browns, spray/sprinkle with oil, flip it over and brown the other side.  Place on a paper towel to cool a bit.  I usually find I can do about 3 at a time.
  6. Serve!  They’re fine on their own, but I imagine a sauce, dip, or chutney would be awesome.

Off the bat these are great.  Each fritter is about 130 calories and 6-9 grams protein (I had trouble getting exact numbers sadly, especially on besan) – so one is a good snack and two is a good main course with some veggies, fruit, or brown rice.  They reminds me a bit of okonomiyaki but lighter – which gives me plenty of ideas.

Also I tried experimentally baking some at 400 degrees.  They didn’t brown as easy but held together OK.  Just not sure it has the same flavor.

I plan to do some serious experimenting with these, with different veggie combos (maybe some tomatoes instead of peas, or adding some pickled ginger, maybe diced cabbage).  I’m also thinking if I ditched the salt and used a tablespoon or two of low-sodium soy sauce it may be good.  I might substitute vegetable broth for the water, though as I prefer to make my own I’d want to time it right.   Also if I used the soy sauce and/or vegetable broth I don’t know if the lemon juice is needed.

Definitely this is added to my repertoire and is something to experiment with in the future!

 

Catalan-Style Beans

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This is a recipe for a basic spanish/Catalonian-type bean dish, a variant of one I saw in a cookbook and did my own version of (mostly to make it simpler and easier).  It’s not perfect, but it came out darn good the first time – more below.

Catalan-Style Beans

  • 2 tbsp Olive oil
  • 4 large tomatoes, diced
  • 1 bell pepper, dices
  • 1 1/2 tbsp crushed garlic (about 4 big cloves)
  • 1/2 tsp salt
  • 1/4 tsp ground black pepper
  • 1/4 tsp ground thyme
  • generous pinch cinnamon
  • 3 cups (2 cans) of white beans or garbanzos, low-sodium
  1. Preheat oven to 375.
  2. Mix all ingredients except beans in a skillet.  Sautee for 3 minutes to allow blend, cover, lower heat.  Cook 10 minutes, simmering.
  3. Place beans on bottom of a 2 quart baking dish, spread out evenly.
  4. Cover beans with tomato mixture.
  5. Place in oven, cook uncovered for 1 hour, stirring every 20 minutes.
  6. Serve.

This freeze and reheats well – in fact the flavor may improve after a bit of reheating – don’t overdo reheating it, the beans can get a bit soft if you use navy beans.

This recipe was pretty good the first time, with a simple flavor, nice fragrance, a bit of a zippy kick from the tomatoes and garlic.  A nice, light main course.  It needs some tweaking – the flavor could use a bit of depth and I think there may have been a bit much liquid – but it’s one of those recipes where the first time showed there’s something to this.

Improvement-wise I’m thinking of: less olive oil, uncovering the mix during the simmer phase to reduce fluid, and cooking at a slightly lower temperature.  I have also tried it with paprika (not sure) and some red pepper (which was good).

Also it’s easy to make after the initial sautee-and-simmer, since it basically sits in the oven for an hour with an occasional stir!

Serving-wise I’ve had it with polenta, steamed garlic, and vinegared turnips.  Despite its kick, it works with vinegared food and other sours, and I think it goes good with greens.  The polenta worked due to sweetness, so it’d also probably go good with corn, peas, rice, and bread.

– Steven Savage

Steven Savage is a Geek 2.0 writer, speaker, blogger, and job coach.  He blogs on careers at http://www.musehack.com/, publishes books on career and culture at http://www.informotron.com/, and does a site of creative tools at http://www.seventhsanctum.com/. He can be reached at https://www.stevensavage.com/.