Green Chickpea Fattah

Phoebe Thorburn -

What a beautiful celebration of simple staples. Salty, golden, blistering chickpeas with a confetti flourish of fresh herbs - laced with garlic, lemon juice and finished with the crunchiest croutons and freshest yog. It's very much, an a-grade dish.

One word of warning - crisping chickpeas in a pan is a somewhat terrifying task, as they split & splat all over your kitchen. Covering with a lid (not air-tight) or giving the pan a birth while it does it's thing is the way to approach it. Remembering - as a hot chonk of chickpea lands on your pet (ah!) - that it's all going to be worth it. Apart from those few minutes of stress, this recipe comes together in a pinch.

INGREDIENTS

  • light flavoured vegetable oil
  • 1 x 400g tin chickpeas, drained, rinsed & gently patted dry
  • 3 cloves garlic, finely chopped/or a drizzle of garlic olive oil
  • generous pinch dried chilli
  • large handful coriander, finely chopped
  • large handful dill, finely chopped
  • large handful parsley, finely chopped
  • olive oil
  • juice ½ lemon
  • salt & pepper
  • 1 slice bread (GF or not)

To serve: natural coconut yoghurt, more lemon juice and bread of choice, to dip (pita, sourdough, flatbread, Turkish break etc.)

METHOD

  1. Add a very generous glug of vegetable oil to a small-medium frypan. Once hot tumble in the drained chickpeas and shake the pan so they spread out (it's ok if they pile on top of each other a bit). Don’t touch them for a couple of minutes (they might pop & splutter - that’s normal). Toss the pan to turn them over, then after another couple of minutes - when they’re are looking wonderfully crispy - add the garlic, chilli and a generous pinch of salt. Toss the pan for a further minute or two, until the garlic is starting to turn golden and everything is wonderfully fragrant.
  2. Tip the chickpeas onto a serving platter, followed by the herbs, another drizzle of olive oil, the lemon juice and a generous grind of pepper. Toss everything together.
  3. Slice your bread slice into crouton-sized squares. Add back to the pan you cooked your chickpeas in (with another glug of vegetable oil, if needed) and let crisp up on all sides. Be careful they don’t burn. Sprinkle over the top of the chickpeas.
  4. Dollop over natural coconut yoghurt and finish with another squeeze of lemon juice. Serve immediately, with a bread of your choice.