Traditionalists will argue that the best ones are the meat ones, but the adventurous type will just love chickpea balls. They’re super delicious, easy and quick to prepare, and the perfect solution to getting children to eat legumes too.
Here's the recipe for you!
Chickpea Balls Recipe
Ingredients:
9 oz canned chickpeas
½ glass milk
2 slices of homemade bread
grated Parmigiano cheese
breadcrumbs
2 eggs
1 carrot
1 onion
1 zucchini
salt and pepper
extra virgin olive oil
Method:
Clean and finely chop the onion, clean the carrot and zucchini and cut into brunoise. Fry the onion with a drizzle of oil, add the vegetables and fry them in a pan for a few minutes, season with salt and pepper and let them cool.
Drain the chickpeas and chop them coarsely in a mixer or with the help of a potato masher. Remove the crust from the homemade bread, cut it into chunks and soak it in cold milk for 10 minutes. Mix in a bowl the chickpeas, the squeezed bread, an egg and two tablespoons of grated cheese. Add the vegetables and mix everything together, form small meatballs with the palms of your hands and then lightly crush them.
Since the dough is already moist, pass the meatballs directly through the breadcrumbs and fry them in extra virgin olive oil, giving them lovely brown crust, it will take a few minutes and they’re ready! Dry the chickpea meatballs on kitchen paper, salt them and serve hot, accompanied by a sauce if desired.
Tips
If you want to make a lighter variation you can bake the meatballs in a ventilated oven, on a baking tray lined with baking paper at 400 °C for 10 minutes.
The uncooked chickpea meatballs can be kept in an airtight container in the fridge for 4-5 days. If you have used only fresh and not thawed ingredients, they can be frozen for about 1 month. Once fried they should be eaten straight away.