Here's a delightful recipe for Totillitas, a garbanzo bean flour fritter from the Andalusia (southern) region of Spain. It was recommended by one of our readers, Ryan (Thanks!). Pre-packaged garbanzo (chickpea) flour can be obtained at Sprout's Market or at any Indian grocery where it is called besan or gram flour. It is possible to make this recipe without the white flower if you are allergic to gluten. This is a very simple and easy to make dish that is wonderfully tasty.
Ingredients:
- 1 cup garbanzo (chickpea) flour
- 1 cup white flour
- 1 teaspoon baking powder
- Salt (to taste) and freshly ground black pepper
- 1/2 cup chopped onions, scallions or shallots About 1 cup coarsely chopped raw shellfish or firm while fish. (The pictured dish uses shrimp)
- 4 to 5 tablespoons coarsely chopped chives, parsley, thyme or cilantro (your choice, mix and match!)
- Olive oil
Preparation:
- In a bowl, combine flours and baking powder with salt and ground pepper. Slowly whisk in cold tap water until the batter is the consistency of a thin pancake batter. Stir in the onions, chopped seafood and herbs.
- Pour a generous amount of olive oil in a skillet (1/4" deep) and then heat to medium to medium high. If the oil starts to smoke it is too hot. Once the oil is hot, pour one ladle of the batter mixture in the pan.
- Brown the fritter on one side and then flip it over to brown the other side (just as you would a pancake). The center of the tortillita should be soft, the outside crisp. Temperature control is the way to accomplish this.
These tortillitas can be eaten as a snack or as part of a full meal.
Buen provecho!
This recipe adapted from Mark Bittman's New York Times recipe.
Photo by Shari K. Johnston-O'Neill
