Fried Chickpeas with Parsley Salad

I went to an "ethnic" potluck last night, but I wanted to make something up, so after a little brain storming I decided to use the deep fried chickpeas from Campagnolo Restaurant as inspiration for this dish. It must have turned out well as people were excited and asking for the recipe... so here it is! You can really use whatever spices you want. I did some up with curry and cumin and they were good, too, but the ones below were my fave. Takes maybe 35 minutes and makes a bit of a mess... wear an apron!


SALAD PREP
1 small onion
1 cup vinegar

For the salad bit you're going to fresh-pickle an onion, so dice it up and submerge it into a cup of vinegar.

FRIED CHICKPEAS
1 large can of chickpeas
1 egg beaten (may need two depending on size)
3/4 cup flour 2 Tbsp coriander seed
1 tsp ground cardamom
4 tsp white sugar
2 tsp salt
1/3 cup fresh mint shaved (cut into strips)
1/2 cup canola oil (or similar) for frying

Open, drain and rinse your chickpeas. Beat an egg into a sizeable flat dish. Cut up your coriander seed as best you can. They tend to go flying so if you can guard the edges of your cutting board, and dampen the cut with your hands, you'll make less mess. In a medium mixing bowl mix all the flour, chopped coriander seeds, ground cardamom, sugar and salt. You may wish to put half the mixture aside to have some fresh stuff for your second batch. Also cut up your mint have it ready. Put your oil in a frying pan and turn it on high. Make sure your hood fan is on and you have a lid nearby. You'll also want a bowl with paper towels on the bottom nearby to put the chickpeas in when they come out of the frying pan, and a slotted spoon or spatula for transferring them from the pan to this bowl.

Take about as many chickpeas as will fit along the bottom of the pan and coat them with egg. Then coat them thoroughly with the flour mixture. Ideally they'll all be separate little balls. Once the oil is hot (it'll start crackling a bit), remove the balls of chickpea from the flour and put them into the pan. Sprinkle some fresh mint over top. Put the lid on and let cook for 6-10 minutes - stir frequently to brown on all sides. Remove from heat and oil into the bowl with paper towel in it.
Repeat as necessary.


PARSLEY SALAD

1 fresh-pickled onion
2 cups chopped parsley
.5 diced red pepper
1 Tbsp avacado oil
1 Tbsp olive oil juice of
1 big lime

 Combine all the above into a salad. Serve with fried chickpeas on top.

Dani's Eggplant Parmesan

This one turned out really well; so well, in fact, that my man called it "perfect" so I thought I'd better share. This takes about an hour to make (most of that is just "waiting time")and serves 4.


LAYER ONE 
1 eggplant
1.5 Tbsp salt
1 Tbsp olive oil
1 tsp pepper

 LAYER TWO 
1 jar of PC roasted tomato sauce

LAYER THREE 
1 large dinner roll
6 springs of fresh oregano

 LAYER FOUR 
150g medium swiss cheese
150g grated parmesan
1 egg beaten


PREP 

Slice your eggplant to about 1/2 inch thick, salt thoroughly on both sides, place in a colander either in the sink or with a dish underneath to catch the liquid. Leave 30 minutes. 15 or so minutes later you can mix LAYER FOUR together in a bowl and have it ready (FYI it will be a pretty thick mixture). Cut your dinner roll into cubes and put them aside. Remove the leaves from the oregano stalks and put them aside. Just before your half hour is up, put the olive oil in a fry pan on medium-high and shake some pepper in it. You'll know the oil is hot enough when the pepper starts sizzling in the pan. While waiting for that to happen, rinse the salt off the eggplant slices. Next, fry your eggplant on both sides. Use more olive oil for the next panful if necessary. The eggplant flesh should turn green (not brown) when it's ready. Place along the bottom of a 12" x 9" dish (or similar). Heat the oven to 350 F.

BUILDING THE CASSEROLE 


The idea is to layer each of the layers above at least twice. Start with eggplant, then pour some tomato sauce on top, then sprinkle cubes of bread and fresh oregano. Next put some of the cheese and egg mixture. I use my hands because of how thick it is and just disperse little globs of it across the layer (I don't cover the entire pan with it). Do it all over again. Cover the dish with tinfoil. If your pan is really full you might want to put some toothpicks in the food so that the tinfoil isn't touching it (the cheese will stick and make a mess if it's touching). bake for 25 minutes. After 25 minutes remove the tinfoil, crank the oven to broil and put back in until the cubes of bread on the top turn golden. Et voila!