It's Candlemas Day aka Feast of the Purification aka Groundhog Day, and the greatest of these is
Six more weeks of winter, no matter what Punxsutawney Phil says.
Yesterday was a great food day
Misfits arrived on time, and the driver was taking a picture of the delivery just as I was, so we waved.
The blackberries I ordered turned out to be what were known to us as loganberries in North Yorkshire growing up, much better, less seedy, though they're labeled blackberries. These are larger, reddish more than black, match online pictures of loganberries, so I think I'm on safe ground.
And as promised, I made the chickpea fritters.
Here's the YouTube channel where I found them. And I used chickpea flour instead of the AP he uses.
Mashed potatoes and chickpeas, handful of cilantro, quite a bit of spice, and he deepfried, I baked at 400°f for 20 minutes, turned them over to brown more for five minutes. Here ready for the oven
Made a dipping sauce of lemon juice and plain yogurt, fancy curry leaf sprig on the plate.
I really recommend you try this! They're spicy and really good with each forkful dipped, very crunchy outside because of the panko, which I used because I wasn't deep fat frying to get them crunchy. Gosh they're good. This made nine fritters from two potatoes and one can of chickpeas, aka three suppers.
Pro tip: I'm still learning chickpea flour and find it mixes much faster and absorbs more liquid than AP, so I'll use less flour next time. It was pretty sticky. But the flavor is much better than plain AP.
And loganberries with yogurt are a great cooling dessert after the fritters.
Successful supper.
Happy day everyone, whatever your season.
Still St. Brigid's Day/Imbolc here. Happy all three events, plus white rabbits a bit late in the day. Your chickpea fritters look yummy. I'm just finishing a late dinner of spicy fish tacos with purple cabbage - lovely array of colors on my plate. I'm running late because I taught a (Zoom) community ed class tonight, and we had so much fun we ran over.
ReplyDeleteSpeaking of redfish (a couple of days ago anyway) - we cooked some for the first time, having found a special sale, and they were even better than cod, which is our go-to seafood. If Misfits ever offers it, give it a try.
Chris from Boise
There is a little poem about Candlemas. Can’t remember it exactly but if candlemas is sunny you have six more weeks of winter. Kinda fits in with the groundhog. If he sees his shadow then obviously the suns out.
ReplyDeleteMeanwhile your dinners sound very hearty. Enjoy
Today's damp and cloudy. Mild. This might be a good thing.
DeleteI’ve mentioned before that I’ll go for anything with chickpeas. These sound so good. So odd that they labeled loganberries as black berries. But a win for you.
ReplyDeleteThere seems to be dispute about what they are. They're not the blackberries I know, whatever!
DeleteHari Om
ReplyDeleteErrrrmmmm... loganberries are red like raspberries. If the berries were longer than you expected it is simply the variety of blackberry. And those are what Indians would call alloo cutlet. If you like chilli, you can add some finely chopped green or red fresh or change it up even more by using sweet potato... I'd recommend dry roast the besan before use. Dry skillet, low heat, keep stirring until turns a little golden and smelling nutty...and yeah, it does take a bit of practice to use. Very tasty though! YAM xx
They're not aloo cutlets, because they don't have chickpeas. This is half and half chickpeas and potatoes. Very good too.
DeleteI find spices make all the difference. My husband and I find food doesn’t quite taste the same any more but the addition of various spice blends has made everything taste great!
ReplyDeleteI wish I liked chickpeas more. I will work on using them in various ways!
I think you could use other mashed beans in this recipe.
DeleteThose fritters sound marvelous!
ReplyDeleteThey're really good with the dipping sauce.
DeleteThey look good, I will try them. We had sun yesterday, so maybe we will have a winter yet.
ReplyDeleteIf you try them, let us know what you think.
DeleteI had completely forgotten it was Groundhog Day which is not surprising. But I got a text this morning from the son of a friend of mine who informed me that the groundhog saw his shadow and thus- we will have spring soon! I loved his enthusiasm. He has autism and the funniest things make him happy. As we are in Florida, there will indeed be very springlike days. In fact, we are having one today.
ReplyDeleteYour fritters do look very much worth making.
Here it's cloudy so spring soon..
DeleteThose fritters sound good. i wish i liked yogurt. And in respect of an earlier post, hake is one of my favourite fish but it's one of the more expensive here.
ReplyDeleteSurprising about the cost of hake. For me it's cheaper than cod, which used to be the affordable fish. I wonder if the travel raises the price to you? Or import tariffs maybe. Mine I think is from NZ.
DeleteThe fritters sound wonderful and something I would make if I still cooked.
ReplyDeleteI guess cooking is firmly in your rearview mirror now?
DeleteI wonder if your fritters are similar to falafel? Which reminds me I really want some falafel!
ReplyDeleteI'll have to check what falafel is!
DeleteI had the same thought as Ms. Merlot.
DeleteI will try those fritters!
ReplyDeleteTry them, e. They fit your vegetarian preference. I didn't boil the potatoes to mash them as he does in the video, nor peel them. I microwaved them tender, then mashed. Less labor intensive.
DeleteI use chick peas for humus, my favourite with toast, but those fritters sound really tasty,
ReplyDeleteI haven't made that for ages. Thanks for the reminder.
DeleteChickpea fritters sounds fantatic!
ReplyDeleteThey're worth a try. Especially that blend of spices.
DeleteThat looks like a great dinner! Oh, and Phil lies. Well, I hope not this year. I'm ready to turn my back on this so-called winter and see the sun and warmth again!
ReplyDeleteAround here there's usually six more weeks of winter from this point anyway!
DeleteThose fritters and dip sound just about perfect! I think I've enjoyed everything I've ever made with chickpeas, but I've done less with chickpea flour so I probably should experiment more. I've also got a bag of sorghum flour on hand now - is that one in your repertoire? I'll be googing for recipes soon.
ReplyDeleteI've never tried sorghum flour. I should check into that. I'm really pleased with the various uses I've made of chickpea flour. It's so fine and absorbent there's a bit of a learning curve compared to wheat flour.
DeleteYou're certainly persuasive about those fritters. I'm all but committing to make some. :) Thinking seriously about it...
ReplyDeleteTry it! That channel is really nice, lovely voice, no annoying music, clear demo.
DeleteI suspect the Groundhog lies every year because no matter what he 'predicts' we still get at least six more weeks of winter. This year, according to the news, we are setting records for the sheer number of no-sun days since November.
ReplyDeleteYes, it's six weeks to the equinox! So whatever he says.. But it lifts people's spirits if he foretells an early spring. So there's that.
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