Chickpea ‘Fish’ and Chips

A recipe from Triumph of the Lentil: Soy-Free Vegan Wholefoods for all Appetites

In the days when I cooked with tofu I would often marinate it in wakame and vinegar, and serve it with chips.  Using the same flavours I created these chickpea-based patties that taste even better.  Best served with fresh lemon juice.

I use wakame for this recipe, because I have a good local source for it.  If you can’t find wakame, you could use any other leafy sea vegetable, ripped into small-ish pieces such as sushi nori, dulse or kelp.  These taste the best when they’ve been shallow fried, but baking them is a bit easier.

Serves 2.  Kitchen time 10 minutes.  Cooking time 30-40 minutes.

Gluten-free option.  Low fat option.  Nightshade-free.  Onion- & garlic-free.  Under 45 minutes.

Ingredients

For the chips:

2 large potatoes, 3 medium or 4 smaller ones

2-3 teaspoons olive oil

4-7 pinches of salt

For the ‘fish’:

1/3 cup wakame (if you don’t have wakame, you could substitute with ripped up sushi nori, or another sea vegetable)

1/3 cup apple cider vinegar

1-2 teaspoons barley malt syrup (optional)

1/4-1/2 teaspoon salt

1/4 cup water

2 1/4 cups cooked chickpeas (1 1/2 400g (14oz) tins)

1/2 cup flour (barley, wholemeal spelt, wholewheat or gluten free)

2/3 cup barley flour, for flouring,

or the crumbing ingredients for seitan schnitzel (page 54)

Method

Preheat the oven to 175c (375f).

Prepare the chips by cutting the potatoes into slices as thick or thin as you would like, then slice into chip shapes.  Place on a baking sheet with the oil, and flip them around in it, making sure they’re all coated.  Move them around so that none are touching, then sprinkle with the salt.  Put them in the oven once it’s heated up.

In a mixing bowl, combine the wakame, vinegar, barley malt syrup, salt and water.  Leave for at least 5 minutes, for the wakame to soak.

Use a fork or food processor to mash the chickpeas as finely as possible, use some of the wakame/vinegar mixture to help with this.

Add the rest of the wakame/vinegar mixture, along with the flour and combine until evenly mixed.

Take tablespoons of the mixture and shape into patties or ‘fingers’ and coat in flour, or crumb with the same mixtures for seitan schnitzel, page 54.  Place on an oiled baking tray, and brush the tops with oil if you wish.

Once the potatoes have 20 minutes to go, (when they move around freely when shaken and are all golden on one side), put the patties in the oven and bake for 20 minutes, flipping over once towards the end of the cooking.

Alternatively, shallow fry for 5 minutes on each side, until golden.

Gluten-free option: Omit the barley malt syrup and use a gluten-free flour blend