A while ago I made these enchiladas from Oh She Glows (without the cilantro avocado sauce). I brought them along to a Cinco de Mayo party, and then made them again a week later, substituting refried beans for the black beans, and adding some corn. It is a really fantastic recipe that I recommend you try. The second time I made them, I also attempted to make my own chickpea tortillas to use for the enchiladas. This turned out to be more of a chickpea crepe which I filled with the enchilada filling. Not quite an enchilada but still tasted good, in a different way.
I bought a huge bag of chickpea flour that was on sale after making the tortillas, as I saw a lot of potential in this high protein, gluten-free flour. My second venture with the chickpea flour was blueberry pancakes (omitting the sugar), which I was not a fan of. I think I will be sticking to the savoury flavours for chickpea flour. Next, I purposefully made chickpea crepes, which were delicious with avocado and scrambled eggs.
In order to escape the pancake/crepe rut I seemed to be in, I conducted a google search and found a recipe for Socca, similar to a pizza crust. Since I had enchilada filling in the freezer, I figured this would be a perfect topping for chickpea flour crust pizza. I followed the recipe on Food and Wine since it was more tailored to what I wanted to do.
It did not turn out so great. The first slice was kind of good, but after that, it was all downhill. I think the problem was that I didn't get it crispy enough. The middle was too mushy and had a bad texture. I think a good idea would be to actually make a crispy chickpea tortilla (like a flat hardshell taco shell) and then add the toppings and a quick broil. I think I also need to learn how to season the batter a bit better. All I have been doing is adding some cumin. I wonder if adding rosemary, pepper, basil and oregano would be a good bet? Of course, topping it with tomatoes, cheese, garlic, etc would work better instead of enchilada filling with that herb combination.
All I know is that I am not ready to give up on chickpea flour. I am discouraged, but I will not let that huge bag of flour go to waste. Anyone know of any good uses for chickpea flour? Anyone have any ideas? I almost refuse to believe that I have a distaste for chickpea flour, and must find a way that I will enjoy using it.
Before I close off this post I would like to draw your attention to the new look of the blog! If you are viewing this through email or a reader, I suggest you check out the site's new look. A friend of mine designed a logo for me and I think it looks great! It goes nice with the blog theme, and I think the sun is an excellent symbol for Food for Fuel. The sun is ultimately the energy source for the food that we eat, and since I feature mostly vegetarian recipes, these foods are as close as we can get to that source of energy. Kind of lovely when you think about it.
I have seen brownies using chickpea flour :)
ReplyDeleteI will have to look into that!
ReplyDelete