Vår huskock Billy White bjuder på ett skönt avbrott till julmaten när han serverar kikärts- och potatisplättar.
Chickpea & potato latkes with chicory, feta and coriander
Serves 4
3-4 medium potatoes
2 medium carrots
1 can of chickpeas
1 large onion
2 cloves of garlic
1 tsk coriander seeds
1 tsk fennel seeds
1 tsk turmeric
1 tsk cumin seeds
2 large eggs
1/2 dl polenta
3-4 bulbs chicory/endive
Extra virgin olive oil
1/2 lemon
1 bunch of coriander
150-200 g feta cheese
Coarsely grate the potato and carrots into a large mixing bowl, add a pinch of salt and leave for 10 minutes until the salt draws out the liquid.
Dice the onion and warm 2-3 tablespoons of olive oil in a frying pan. Gently fry the onion for 2-3 minutes.
Meanwhile, lightly crush the spices and garlic plus a big pinch of course sea salt in a mortar and add to the onions. Stir them in a keep on a heat for 5 minutes until they are really soft and are beginning to colour.
Take off the heat and add the drained chickpeas. Smash around a little, so about half are broken up and half are still whole.
Place the potato and carrot mix in a sieve and squeeze to extract all the excess liquid until the mixture is very dry.
Place the mixture back into the mixing bowl and add the spiced onion and chickpea mix and mix well.
Add the eggs, mix well, then add the polenta and season with a little black pepper and mix until everything is well combined.
Heat some oil in a deep frying pan over a medium heat. Take handfuls of the mixture and flatten in your hands to make patties. Place these gently into the pan 2 or 3 at a time, be careful to not splash yourself with the hot oil.
Shallow fry them for 1-2 minutes on each side, until crisp and lovely golden brown. Remove from the pan with a fish slice or fork and drain off excess fat on a plate lined with kitchen paper.
Continue until all the mix is gone.
If you wish you can make one or two really big latkes but they can be tricky to flip over.
Cut the bottom of the chicory and pull apart all the leaves and put the in a large salad bowl, trying to leave them as whole as possible. You will need to keep on cutting slices off the bottom to release the leaves, add these rounds to the bowl too, they are really crisp and delicious. Add a generous flight of olive oil and the juice from half a lemon to the bowl and season with a pinch of salt. Gently mix everything together, taste to check if you feel it could need more salt or lemon.
Arrange 3-4 latkes per person on a plate.
Scatter the chicory salad over the top and crumble the feta over each plate.
I love coriander, so I put a lot of whole leaves on at the end and a sprinkle of Turkish chili flakes for those who like a bit of kick.
This is a great light dinner on its own, but goes extremely well with grilled lamb racks.