Welcome to another super fast, super easy recipe, tried and tested by Karen. This one is straight from Deliciously Ella's book 'Quick and Easy' so I knew it was going to become part of my repertoire. Now that we're into spring, the first things sprouting in my garden are usually the peas. They're at the stage where the shoots are really tasty but I'll have to wait a bit longer before I'll get peas in pods. Never fear, I always have frozen peas ready to go and these, with the creamy butter beans, the zest of the lemon and the sweet yet sharp flavour of the chives, are a winning mix. They're fab hot or cold and make the perfect summer's day picnic food, although they are just as great as a snack or in your lunch box.
This recipe makes plenty (around 15, enough for 4 people) so if you think you may not eat them all remember that you can freeze them. Just remember to separate them before you do with squares of parchment. I tried and they stayed intact and were just as tasty...although warm ones were especially delicious.
So here goes...
INGREDIENTS
-1 onion (chopped finely)
-2 garlic cloves, I used 4!
-300g frozen peas
-10 tablespoons of gram flour
-1 x 400g tin of butter beans, drained and rinsed
-juice of half a lemon
-plenty of chopped chives
-salt and pepper to taste
-oil for frying
METHOD
1 Fry up the onion and garlic in a little oil on a medium heat with a little salt until soft. This should take around 5/10 mins.
2 Blanch the peas in a bowl with some boiling water. Do this just long enough to defrost them and not cook them.
3 In a food processor, add the onions and garlic, the gram flour, butter beans, half of the peas and the lemon juice. Add some salt and pepper and then pulse until the mixture starts to stick together but isn't fully smooth.
4 Add the chives and the remaining peas and pulse once or twice to mix but keep the texture chunky. For this I found I had to stir these in after with a spoon to mix them evenly.
5 Put the mixture in a bowl and put it in the fridge to cool down for about 15 mins.
6 When you are ready to cook them, drizzle your chosen oil in a frying pan and put on a medium heat. I found the easiest way to shape them was to take tablespoons of the mixture and roll them into balls in my hands. Then place in the frying pan and flatten with a spatula. Cook for 3/4 mins each side until they are cooked through and crispy on the outside. You can cook many at a time...depending on the size of your frying pan!
7 Following this I turned them out onto a piece of kitchen roll to soak up any excess oil and then continued with the next batch.
I love this kind of recipe as it is so adaptable. You can try different veg and different herbs and spices for a completely different flavour. Perhaps black beans, corn and smoky Mexican spices. Or maybe butter beans, courgette with pesto, yum! As long as you maintain the consistency and have a thick enough batter to bind it all together, you can make these exactly to your taste.
Thanks so much for reading and if you try this recipe I really hope you like it.
Karen x