Beetroot Chickpea & Herb Fritters

Beetroot Chickpea and Herb fritters

by Azélia on 02/04/2010

in Vegetables,Vegetarian

My idea for these beetroot and chickpea fritters came from Simply Recipes blog’s beetroot humous, Elise made a humous  with such a gorgeous vibrant colour and the two earthy ingredients beetroot and chickpeas sounded in my mind a perfect match.  It’s so satisfying when you picture food together in your mind and then it turns out better than you imagined.  Beetroot falls into the marmite category of either liking it or hating it, it’s not a flavour you can disguise.

Bikerboy loves beetroot in any form but I’m lukewarm about them or at least I was until I made these fritters, they have put me on the love beetroot camp. I ate the first three that came out of the pan, I just managed to take photos before I scoffed them.  A sprinkling of lime or lemon juice just before eating them really balances the flavour of beetroot….I then carried on eating the rest throughout the day.  The fritters are dairy-free and you can also make them gluten-free by replacing the flour with chickpea flour (gram flour).

I added fresh herbs; chives, parsley and mint.  I don’t often use mint it’s not a favourite herb of mine but here I was thinking of chickpeas…Middle East…and the Middle Eastern herb seemed appropriate and against the strong flavour of beetroot the mint can stand up to it.  I made these the old fashion way of grating and chopping everything by hand roughly, sometimes when I have the time I find it very therapeutic but if time was pressing you can grate the beetroot in a food processor and then add all the ingredients (except flour) in the processor and blend using the pulse button.

Although I used chickpeas there’s no reason why you couldn’t replace them with beans or replace some or all of the beetroot with grated carrot.  I also made some of these fritters adding little pieces of feta cheese about 2 tablespoons.

Beetroot Chickpea & Herb Fritters

These fritters are best served within half  an hour of frying, leaving them at room temperature, the mixture can be prepared hours in advanced.

300g • 2 cups raw peeled grated beetroot
1 tin chickpeas – 1 cup (270g drained weight) chopped roughly with a sharp knife
5-7 spring onions (scallions) chopped finely
2-3 tablespoons of chopped fresh herbs, I used parsley, chives and smaller portion of mint
1 teaspoon of salt
freshly ground pepper
3 eggs lightly beaten with a fork
130g • 1 cup of plain flour

1 lemon or lime for serving

a little vegetable oil for frying

By Hand
Mix together grated beetroot, chickpeas, spring onions (scallions), herbs, salt and pepper.  Add the lightly beaten eggs and mix well followed by the flour.

By Food Processor
Grate the beetroot first. Then in the processor bowl along with the beetroot add the rest of the ingredients except the flour,there’s no need to prior chopping. Use the pulse button until it’s combined transfer it to a bowl and mix in the flour.

Heat the oil in a frying pan in a medium heat and using a spoonful of mixture add it to the pan, flatten it with the back of the spoon so it’s all one even layer.  Fry it for about 3 minutes and turn it over and continue frying for another 2 minutes, place them on kitchen towels and then transferred to serving dish, sprinkle with lime or lemon juice just before eating them.

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