Chickpea Flatbread & Marinated Crunchy Chickpeas. This is the result of creating a bread that contains it all: crunch, sweetness and spiciness all married together. It’s a typical over-the-top dish that incorporates everything that I love, and it goes well with so many dishes in this book.
Makes 1 big oven tray, serves 4–6
For the flatbread
140 g (5 oz / 1 cup) chickpea (gram) flour
140 g (5 oz / 1 cup) Gluten-free Flour Mix
500 ml (17 fl oz / 2 cups) water pinch of pink Himalayan salt
1 tablespoon bicarbonate of soda (baking soda)
black sesame seeds
For the caramelised onions
2–3 tablespoons olive oil
1 yellow onion, sliced
1/2 teaspoon sweet paprika
2–3 medjool dates, stoned (pitted) and torn or finely chopped
For the marinated chickpeas
400 g (14 oz) tin chickpeas, drained
1/2 teaspoon sesame seeds
1/2 teaspoon dried parsley
1/2 teaspoon red chilli flakes (red pepper flakes)
pinch of pink Himalayan salt
To serve
coriander (cilantro) and mint, chopped
Preheat the oven to 200ºC (400ºF/Gas 6) and line a baking tray (baking sheet) with greaseproof paper (wax paper).
In a bowl combine all the bread ingredients and set aside.
Next, start on the caramelised onions. Heat a good glug of olive oil in a pan and fry the onion for 10 minutes until nice and soft. Add the sweet paprika along with the dates, give it a stir and set aside.
Drain the chickpeas very well – you can even pat them dry with a towel. Put them in a bowl and add the rest of the marinade ingredients, then stir to coat the chickpeas and set aside.
Drizzle a bit of olive oil over the lined baking tray and spoon the bread mixture over the tray. Make sure the mixture is spread out evenly with a spatula.
Sprinkle the chickpeas evenly over the top along with dollops of the caramelised onions. Make sure that every bite will have a little bit of both mixtures. Scatter over the sesame seeds.
Stick the tray in the middle of the oven and cook for 20 minutes. After the bread is done, move it to the top of the oven for 5 minutes or under the grill to give the chickpeas an extra crunch, but keep an eye on it to make sure they don’t burn.
Take the bread out of the oven and transfer to a wire rack to cool. Serve immediately as a side dish or as a starter bread with any of the dips and sides in this chapter and sprinkled with chopped herbs.
This is an edited extract from Happy Food by Bettina Bordi Campolucci published by Hardie Grant Books RRP $39.99 NZ $34.99 AU and is available in stores nationally.