Mini chickpea crepes with a healthy and tasty mousse

Posted by

Başak

October 11, 2024

On June 10, 2020

Preparation: 10 mins

Soaking: 6 h

Cooking: 15 mins

Difficulty: easy

Yields: 2 portions

Cost: low

If you want to go straight to the recipe click here

Chickpea crepes are good for you

Before the recipe of chickpea crepes, I would like to talk briefly about chickpea crepes and why they are a better choice for us.
Some say they are a great alternative to classic crepes, I would add “even better”. They have a low environmental and economic impact; we can even afford gluten free and organic chickpea flour without ruining our budget, they match perfectly with every filling, satisfying and satiating a lot; plus they are rich in protein, which makes them a surprising alternative to animal products, and if you don’t exaggerate with oil they are very healthy. Finally, creating these chickpea crepes does not require any gastronomic skill, then very suitable for beginners. However, this fabulous dish of humble origins requires a minimum of organization: about 5-7 hours of soaking process.
It is possible to evade this process; some people reduce it to just 30 minutes, always obtaining an edible product in the end. Nevertheless, in my opinion, after having tried and tasted both results, I can definitely recommend the long way, in terms of digestibility and consistency.
So, good and healthy food lovers, here is a guilt-free recipe for you, made with accessible ingredients.
But I have to say a word on avocados: since in this period (May-June) we are at the final harvest stages of local (for countries in the northern hemisphere) avocados, so, focusing on sustainability, from now until November, I advise you not to buy those imported from overseas. But it doesn’t mean that you don’t have to eat them just learn how to store them properly following the instructions given here.

Ingredients for amazing chickpea crepes with healthy mousse

For chickpea crepes (8-10 crepes of 10 cm of diametro)

100 grams of chickpea flour
210 ml of water
½ tsp of salt
black pepper, thyme, bay leaf, marjoram or nutmeg (optional)
1 tbsp of extravergine olive oil (if you prepare a mousse without avocado, you can double the quantity of oil)
For the mousse
80 grams of tofu (or ricotta or cottage cheese but the final taste is very similar)
150 grams or half cup of leek, finely cut
100 grams of fresh mushrooms (portobello is fine, but any other would work fine) or 15 grams of dried mushrooms (soak them before at least for 30 mins)
½ ripe avocado, mashed
80 ml of water (or soaking water of dried mushrooms, if you use them)
2 tbsps of parsley, or dill or cilantro (optional)
1 tbsp of extravirgin olive oil for cooking (if you are not dieting you can use butter for a richer taste, vegan or not)
a pinch of paprika or ground red chilli pepper (optional)

Directions for easy chickpea crepes with healthy mousse

The process is very easy, as said before, anyone can prepare these chickpea crepes; the only thing necessary is not to burn them during cooking.

Step 1. Put the flour in a large bowl with high edges, add the water slowly, always stirring. Try not to create lumps, salt, pepper, flavored with sage, thyme, bay leaf if you want to and add the oil; leave the container in a sheltered place and covered with a kitchen cloth, which you will open occasionally to stir with a wooden spoon, so as to keep the batter always homogeneous.

Step 2. Once the soaking phase of 6-7 hours is over, which means in other words the fermentation process, (if it is very hot, five hours will be enough), stir well one last time and take a ladle and fill it in half with the batter.

Step 3. Pour the mixture into a previously oiled and heated frying pan. When you see the bubbles on the surface of the crepe you can turn it to the other side. You won’t need more than 5-6 minutes in all to complete the operation.
To speed up the process, use two small frying pans, or cook two or three smaller diameter crepes together in a larger pan.

Step 4. For the mousse, put the oil in a frying pan and let leek slices cook over low heat; after about 5 minutes when they have turned pink, turn up the heat and add the mushrooms; sauté everything for a few minutes while continuing to stir.

Step 5. Put away 1 tablespoon of leek and mushroom mixture to decorate the dish later.

Step 6. Then add tofu or ricotta cheese and cook them together for a few more minutes adding approx 80 ml of water, if you want it denser add less water or on the contrary add more if you want it less dense.

Step 7. Finally add the avocado and fresh herbs, with a hand blender, turn the mixture into a foamy mousse or mash.

When the chickpea crepes are all cooked, we start assembling our plates:

Step 8. Pour 1 tablespoon of mousse on your plate, place a chickpea crepe on top, cover it with some generous drops of mousse and a few pieces of mushroom and leeks put aside: go on like this until you finish the crepes and the mousse for two plates.

If you wish, you can also enrich the taste and nutritional values with parmigiano or similar mature cheese flakes (vegan or not) for each layer and on top.

Chickpea lovers should absolutely try la Farinata, Italian Chickpea Flatbread for full recipe

Smart combos

It is a complete dish, rich in protein, fiber, slow-digesting carbohydrates, good fats which include Omega-3, vitamins and mineral salts, which manages to combine both taste and affordability; all guilt-free!
But if you want more omega-3 from your plate and at the same time to stimulate the iron absorption (*) and increase even more the sense of satiety, I recommend combining these crepes with a generous purslane salad, seasoned with little oil and lots of lemon juice or with a light dessert like this chia pudding.

Enjoy your fine chickpea crepes and good revolution to all.

Bibliography
(*) Teucher B, Olivares M, Cori H. (2004). Enhancers of iron absorption: ascorbic acid and other organic acids. International Journal of Vitamin and Nutrition Research 74(6):403-419.