Socca: chickpea pancakes

[mific]

I recently discovered this recipe for socca which is delicious and extremely easy to make. My modification from the traditional recipe is the egg, which adds protein to make it a meal, and makes the pancake bind together better. But you can just add more water and omit the egg entirely for traditional socca. It's great with Mediterranean flavoured mains as a side, or as a tasty snack or small meal. 

This is for one dinner plate sized pancake. Multiply as needed. 

Ingredients:
0.5 cup chickpea flour
salt and black pepper to taste
1 dessertspoon olive oil (or other oil, or melted coconut oil or butter)
1/3 cup water
0.5 tsp dried rosemary or oregano (optional)
1 egg (or replace with another 1/3 cup water)

Method:
Put all ingredients in a bowl and mix well - a whisk is best. The flour may still be slightly lumpy, that's okay, and the batter will be runny. 
Let it sit and rest for min. 30 minutes (can be left up to 12 hours if needed)
Heat a frying pan on cooktop until very hot. Add just enough oil for frying - I use a generous amount of spray-on olive oil and a fairly non-stick pan. 
Pour in the pancake batter and cook about 10 min until lightly browned underneath. You may need less time depending on the efficiency of your cooktop - mine's an inefficient portable element. You can turn the heat down to medium after the batter's been poured in. 
Turn pancake and cook the other side until also light golden-brown. Serve - cut into wedges like pizza. 

You can make this into a pizza-like meal by then topping the pancake with tomato paste, more oregano, cheese of your choice, sliced tomato etc. and putting the pan under a grill. It's very tasty but the socca flavour gets lost in the pizza stuff which is a pity, and the base is a little too soft to be really effective for a pizza. But it's a tasty meal.

Another variant is a sweet chickpea pancake for dessert. Omit the pepper and herbs, and add sweetener or sugar to taste (about 3 tsp). I slice it into quarters and stack them, then add toppings. Has a nicely nutty flavour, crisp outside and soft inside. 

Comments

[runpunkrun]

I am not a fan of the chickpea, but I keep thinking I should give socca a try anyway. I like your addition of the egg. I feel like that would make it even more crepe like.

[mific]

The sweet pancake doesn't taste of chickpeas to me once coked, not like the raw batter. Especially with maple syrup. :) It's crispier than a crepe, but I like that. It's the easiest pancake I've made so far in terms of a very simple batter which firms up well and is non-stick and super easy to flip.

[runpunkrun]

That is all encouraging news!

[sonia]

I've been using just chickpea flour & water & Indian spices (ginger, cumin, turmeric) and calling it chana roti. I bet it would be better with the added oil. I might try it with egg, too, and call it a pancake.

[mific]

That version'd be great with a curry. I must try it!