Wednesday, April 13, 2016

Chickpea, apple and pepper scramble

Chickpea flour (besan flour) is one of those ingredients I almost always have in the cupboard, and really enjoy using, but also forget about for months on end. Having just remembered its existence, you may find that it appears more regularly again over the coming months.

Whilst I've long enjoyed chickpea flour, it took me a while to try chickpea scrambles. I think I was put off by the comparisons to scrambled eggs, which were never my favourite food. However, once I did venture into scramble territory, I was an immediate convert. There is a parallel to scrambled eggs in the style and form of the dish, but the flavours are completely different (in my mind, very much better!).


This particular recipe is extremely easy and could work for breakfast, lunch or a light evening meal. I really liked the sweet/savoury balance that apple and pepper provide against the slight nuttiness of chickpea flour. I also used dried coriander, which I found worked well, but you could experiment with other herbs and spices. 

Keeping up the sweet/savoury balance, I served this on toast with one piece spread lightly with Marmite and the other drizzled lightly with maple syrup. It made for a very satisfying lunch! For a lighter meal you could reduce or omit the toast, or if serving at dinner, the scramble would also be delicious on top of baked sweet potato.


Chickpea, apple and pepper scramble
Makes 1 generous serve
Vegan, gluten free, low in fat

Author: Bite-sized thoughts


Ingredients
1/4 cup chickpea flour (besan flour)
1/4 cup unsweetened almond milk (or milk of choice)
1 small red pepper, chopped
1 small apple, chopped
1 tsp dried coriander
Few cracks black pepper

Toast or sweet potato, to serve

Method
In a small bowl or jug, whisk together the chickpea flour and almond milk. Add the pepper, apple, coriander and pepper and stir through.

Heat a non-stick pan over medium-high heat and spray with oil if needed. When the pan is hot, pour your scramble mixture in and cook for a minute or two until it starts to dry out. Break up with a spatula or spoon and continue cooking, stirring regularly, until all pieces are golden (another few minutes).

Serve on top toast or baked sweet potato, or plain for a lighter meal.


Submitted to Healthy Vegan Fridays.

How do you like to use besan flour?

13 comments:

  1. This looks really good, and it does look like eggs.

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    1. Thanks Cakelaw...and yes, the egg resemblance is really strong (appearance wise)!

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  2. I love besan scrambles. I would never have thought to use apple though. I love the idea of serving it with a marmite type spread too.

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    1. Thanks Lisa; I hope you like this if you try it.

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  3. I'm the same way with chickpea flour. I LOVE it and forget about it. This can be said about a few things in my kitchen ;)
    I also much prefer the vegan version of "scramble" then what I remember of the egg version.
    This sounds great! I love the idea of throwing apples in to give a bit of a sweet taste.

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    1. I do have a tendency to add fruit to all manner of dishes ;)

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  4. I have had chickpeas and apple together in a salad before, but not like this. It sounds really good though.

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  5. I have to have chickpea flour especially for vegan omelettes but I love scrambled chickpeas (so much nicer than scrambled egg or scrambled tofu) and then forget to make them for ages - thanks for the reminder and the interesting variation.

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    Replies
    1. I like that I could provide you with a reminder, because I credit your scrambles with convincing me to give them a try way back when I first did :-)

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    2. Made some chickpea scramble today - thanks for the reminder - was a bit dry as I let it cook a bit long so need to start getting back into it

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    3. A good excuse to repeat it soon :-)

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  6. Ohhh this is such a good idea for using chickpea flour! I've actually never tried a chickpea flour scramble, and this sounds especially appealing with the apple and capsicum. Can't wait to try this <3

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