Recipe Thursday: Chickpea Fritters

Well, here we are: my first Recipe Thursday since I don't even know when. I'm pleased to report that I haven't eaten out once since my last post (except for a work lunch, which was someone else's treat). I can't say that I've been whipping up tons of complex recipes from scratch because that just wouldn't be true. But I made sure to try one new thing so that I would have something to share. Behold, the chickpea fritter:

I was immediately attracted to this recipe when I saw the word fritter, and even more so when I glanced at the ingredients list and it wasn't full of weird stuff that we don't already have. The recipe came from the cookbook, Herbivoracious, which Julie and Ernie gave to me for Christmas. This was the first recipe we tried, and I've got to say, I'm impressed. As usual, I messed it up a little bit, so here is the ingredient list that I used:

Two 15-ounce cans chickpeas, rinsed and drained
1/2 cup scallions (which was one scallion "frond," thinly sliced)
5 garlic cloves was what the recipe called for, but we have one of those squeezable garlic bottles so I'm not sure how much I actually used... several big squeezes!
a few shakes of dried rosemary
some salt
grated zest of 1 lemon
juice of half a lemon
1 egg, lightly beaten
1/3 cup flour
1/3 cup bread crumbs
1/3 cup sesame seeds

*I accidentally got a little mixed up with my dry measurements, but I think as long as you end up with 1 cup of dry ingredients it should be fine.

Once you've rounded up your ingredients you just throw everything into a food processor:

And pulse until everything is mixed, but not yet smooth:

At this point Carl and I both took a little taste and it was very hummus-y. Yum!

Then you fry them in a little bit of olive oil for about 3 minutes on each side. At this stage it's important that your kitchen and living room fill with smoke; that's how you know they're good.

We ate them atop some green leaf lettuce with spicy chow chow. Carl threw in a little honey mustard and ranch for good measure. They were absolutely delicious, and tasted just as good leftover in my lunch today.