A specialty of Liguria, panissa are bite-sized chickpea fritters that originated in the province of La Spezia, home to the Cinque Terre. They're made with chickpea flour, though differs slightly from farinata, the chickpea/pancake focaccia found at bakeries around the region.
Panissa is a popular street food, and it's even offered as a starter in local restaurants such as La Cantina di Miky in Monterosso al Mare, one of the Cinque Terre towns. As is the case with many regional Italian foods similar variations n be found in the neighboring regions of Piedmont, where it's called farinata di ceci and Tuscany, where they refer to it as torta di ceci, as well as in Sicily, where it’s called panella.
To make panissa, you need 11 oz. to 1 lb chickpea flour for every 1 quart of water, and you can adjust the measurements according to the consistency you prefer. check out the above slideshow for the recipe.
Panissa