Day 17: Chick Pea Fritters With Tomato Sauce - Ρεβυθοκεφτέδες με ντομάτα - April 3, 2013

We had some leftover canned chickpeas.  What do you do with leftover chickpeas?  We had made hummus, we made some soup, but we still have about a cup of chick peas lef tover.  Now what?  Well, we decided that we would take the plunge into a Veffa cookbook (Veffa's Kitchen) and see what Veffa would do with revithia (Greek word for chickpeas).  Fritters!  Of course!  We read her recipe, and then decided that we knew more or less how to make fritters, and we could "wing it" without needing exact amounts.  We saw the ingredient list she used, and that was more important than knowing if we had 1/2 teaspoon of something.  As we looked through the fridge, we realized that we had the onion, the tomato sauce, the mint, and the chick peas.  Then, we grabbed our self-rising flour and decided to go for it!  We had about 30 minutes to complete this recipe, so we were very focused in our task.  (It did not take all 30 minutes, but we did not make too many fritters).  And, good thing, too, because these made the perfect appetizers for unexpected company!

For this recipe, you will need:

About 1/2 can of chickpeas
1/2 onion, chopped fine
6-8 mint leaves
salt and pepper to taste
about 1/2 cup tomato sauce (we used a San Marzano tomato puree)
some self-rising flour (maybe 1 cup, a little less)

So, we were winging it, remember, and we tried to make it easy for everyone who follows.  First, you mash up the chick peas.  Using a potato masher works well because it separates the skins from the peas and leaves some of the revitiha whole or slightly smashed.  This really contributes to the varying texture that we love in food.

Chop the onion to a fine dice.  You don't want discernible pieces of onion to jump out of the fritter, since they are chickpea fritters - chickpeas should be the focus.  Add the onion to the smashed chickpeas and mix well.

Next, chop the mint.  We have mentioned before about lining up the leaves of any herb, rolling them into a cigar shape cylinder and cutting fine, ribbon-like pieces, so do that.  You want the mint chopped fine so that it is distributed throughout the fritter.  Now, add the mint to the mixture and mix well.

At this point, you can stop using the potato masher and switch to a spoon.  One of our favourite cooking utensils that we use for so many things is the rubber spatula.  It is probably one of four utensils we cannot live without!  So, add the mint and mix everything together.

Now, pour some tomato sauce into the mixture.  You want to add enough that the mix is wet, but not runny.  The consistency should be like cooked oatmeal.  Add a little salt and pepper and taste the mix to find out if you need more salt, pepper, or even mint.  Adjust your seasonings to your taste.

Then, add the flour.  Sprinkle some flour into the mixing bowl and fold it all together.  You want to use the folding method here so that you don't over mix and have chewy fritters.  You will know that you have added enough flour once the mixture begins holding its shape without falling down the sides of the bowl.  The batter will be firm, but not runny or dry.  You should have made a very soft dough instead of a runny batter.  Allow this mixture to sit for 15 minutes, while you heat up the oil.

Pour some frying oil (vegetable, canola, or peanut oil) into a pan.  Using a pot is nice because it gives depth to the frying area, which is helpful when frying fritters.  Heat the oil to the point when you drop some of the fritter mixture into the hot oil, the fritter will sink to the bottom and then immediately surface.  If the fritter mixture does not surface, the oil is not hot enough!  There shouldn't be any splatters, either.  That would mean that the oil is too hot.

Using the two spoon method, scoop some of the fritter batter into one spoon.  Working the ball back and forth between spoons will form an oblong, almost football-shaped  fritter (the North American type of football).  Drop that in the hot oil.  Allow the fritters to fry for 3- 5 minutes on the first side.  You should turn them over in the pan of oil, so that both sides turn a nice golden colour.  Or, you can ladle the hot oil over the top side.  It is easy to flip them over -- it's just not easy making the fritters stay!

Once the fritters have turned light brown on each side, pull them from the oil and place them on a paper towel to drain any excess oil.  Serve warm as a dinner entree or as an appetiser.

We liked these fritters.  The should have sat a little longer to make them a bit more airy.  Self-rising flour needs time to rise, and that entire 30 minute rest would have helped.  But, we did not have 30 minutes, and these turned out fine.  They could have been more airy, yes, but we did not have any leftovers, so we know they were tasty!  We also think that we could have added a little garlic.  Surprisingly, Veffa's recipe did not have garlic.  We thought garlic went into every dish with onions, but not this one.  Next time, we are going to sneak in some garlic.  Lastly, we served these fritters with a piece of lemon nearby for those who thought these may have needed a little something.

These were very tasty.  We all enjoyed these modified mezedes, especially the complex textures of the whole chickpeas combined with the mashed ones and the smooth tomato.  The lingering hint of mint was a nice surprise.  So the next time we make them, a little garlic with our chick peas fritters will take us a long way in flavour.



"Every family should have a room where Christ is welcome in the person of the hungry and thirsty stranger."

St. John Chrysostom

Day 10: Vegan Tomato Fritters - Domatokeftedes - March 27, 2013

Tomato fritters are a food that we like to eat in summer when our tomatoes are in season.  Since tomatoes are not in season, we thought that we would try it with canned tomato.  The interesting part of making tomato fritters is that there is no binding agent like egg, which you would find in many other fritters.  Think about when you make any type of pancake (which is essentially what a fritter is) -- you need some binding agent to keep your ingredients together.  Tomato fritters are naturally held by the tomato.  Tomatoes can be used in foods as binding agents, thickeners, and flavour enhancers.  In this recipe, the canned tomatoes do all three jobs, and in a very tasty way!

For this recipe, you need:
1 can peeled whole tomatoes (or 6 fresh) (we used a 796 mL (28 oz) can of San Marzano tomatoes, a type of "meaty" tomato with less moisture than most)
1 onion, diced fine
2-3 TBSP fresh mint, chopped
~2 cups flour (depends on the tomatoes)
1 tsp sugar
2 cloves garlic, minced
salt and pepper to taste
oil for frying

When we decided to use canned tomatoes, we eliminated our first task of peeling the tomatoes.  If you are using fresh tomatoes, please peel them before you begin.  The ones in the can were whole cooked tomatoes so they were already peeled.  They were not seeded, though, and that worked well enough for us.  We thought about using the canned diced tomatoes, but realised that they may have too much liquid that we did not want.  Although San Marzano tomatoes don't contain much moisture, we did drain the excess water from the canned whole tomatoes; there were 6 tomatoes in the can.  That was equal to the number of fresh tomatoes that we would have used.

Chop the onions, the tomatoes, and the mint, and put them in a bowl.

Pull off the mint leavs from the stem.

In order to cut mint (or any fresh herb), roll the leaves into a cigar shape bundle to keep them all together, then cut.

A rough chop for the tomatoes.

Mix these ingredients together well, then add the sugar and mix again.

Next, add enough flour to bind the mixture, but do not over mix this!  If you over mix, the fritters will get to be chewy.  The amount of flour will depend on how much liquid you have from the tomatoes.  You want to have a thick, smooth batter, similar to the batter you would have when making a quick bread.

Next, add the salt and pepper.  The amounts are up to personal preference, so sprinkle some of each all over the bowl, fold it all together, and then, taste.  If you think it needs a little more salt, then add some. We found that we used about 1 teaspoon salt, and about 1/2 teaspoon of pepper, since we did not want either of those flavours to be dominant over the mint.  Or, you may be like my mother and not add any salt at all, because she never cooks with salt.  But, the salt in this recipe does help the consistency of the fritter, so we feel we need to add some.  Start with a teaspoon.

Fold the batter together, and let it rest in the refrigerator for 30 to 45 minutes.  This gives the batter a chance to really pull together, and it allows the flour to rest so that you do not have too much gluten built up from the mixing.  We have known some people to use self-rising flour in this recipe.  That works very nicely and gives a different texture to the fritters.  However, you would have to let the mixture sit for 45 minutes to allow the self-rising aspect of the flour do its job.

Now, get your frying pan ready.  You can do this in a low pot or a frying pan.  We found the frying pan was very easy, and we feel that less oil is needed that way.  Put about  1/2 inch (about 1.25 cm) of oil in the pan.  Heat the oil, but not smoking hot.

Then, using a small cookie scoop, or the two-spoon method (shown above), create balls of the batter and drop them into the hot oil.  The scoop will give you nice round fritter balls, which are very attractive and uniform.  If you use a spoon or two spoons, you will get more of an oblong variety of shapes.  We do like the uniformity, but wanted to make sure everyone knew that our tomato fritters were homemade, so we hose the two-spoon method.  Fill one spoon, then spoon that ball into the other spoon.  Pass the batter back and forth between the two spoons to make a football-shaped glob, and put that into the hot oil.

Repeat this method until your frying pan is full of fritters.

See how the darker colour starts rising up the side of the fritter?  That is how you know that it is time to turn it over to the second side.  Use a spatula or a tongs to do so.  Remember, oil can splash when you are frying, so be careful.  

You will see the beautiful golden-reddish-brown colour from the first side, in contrast to the light pink of the uncooked side.  Once you turn the fritter over, you will have to wait about 2 1/2 more minutes for the second side to cook fully.  If you press down on the middle of the fritter, it should slowly bounce back.  If it doesn't, then the centre is still a bit raw, and you should leave the fritter to fry for another minute or two.

Put the cooked fritters on paper towels to drain any residual oil.  You can see that the cooked fritters leave behind puddles on the towels.  After cooking the whole batch, move them to a tray in a low heat oven (about 200 ° F or 95 ° C ) to keep them warm until serving.  You can serve these with any meal as mezedes, or keep them in the fridge as a snack.  Any time of day, tomatoes are a refreshing treat, and when the fresh tomatoes are not in season, canned tomatoes are a nice substitute.  Having the tomato fritters on the side of a salad or a vegetable dish adds another texture, flavour, and nutritional value to any meal.

If you will receive people for the sake of God, then be assured that all will be well with you.

- St. Ambrose of Optina