Crispy Chickpea Cake Pitas with Mint Yogurt Sauce

December 30, 2024

No Bake Nutella Balls (chocolate truffles)

Here’s a new favourite truffle I added to our Christmas cookie boxes this year. I’ll share with you how to make No Bake Nutella Balls covered in chocolate with a few sprinkles to make them look festive. These were so delicious. I had a hard time not eating all of them myself. You can crush the graham crackers yourself, but I just purchased a box of crumbs. No Bake Nutella Balls Makes about 50 balls Adapted from The Carefree Kitchen Ingredients For the filling 1/2 cup of butter, softened 1 1/4 cup Nutella 1 cup graham cracker crumbs 2 cups icing sugar 1 teaspoon vanilla For the coating 1 1/2 cups meting chocolate (I used milk) Directions Combine all filling ingredients until a dough forms. You can add more Nutella or graham crumbs if you feel the dough is too soft or dry. The dough should hold its shape once rolled. Roll teaspoon size balls and place in a single layer in the freezer for 30 minutes. Melt the chocolate in a double boiler or bowl over a simmering pot of wa...

These turned out great! Normally I'd use ground cumin but I ran out so I used cumin seeds.

I suppose I could have ground the seeds but I wanted to see how they would turn out. Next time I'll dip them in flour before frying - I think they'll be even crispier that way.

Crispy Chickpea Cake Pitas with Mint Yogurt Sauce
Makes 9 pieces (3 per sandwich)

Ingredients

1/2 cup plain thick yogurt
1 tablespoon dried dill
1 tablespoon dried crushed mint
salt and pepper
1 onion, diced
2 cloves garlic, minced
1 teaspoon cumin seeds
2 tablespoons olive oil
1/4 cup fresh chopped parsley
1 19oz can chickpeas, rinsed, drained and pureed
1 large egg
1/4 cup all purpose flour
1/2 teaspoon each salt and pepper
olive oil for frying
1 1/2 whole wheat pitas

Directions

Mix the yogurt with dill and mint, then season with salt and pepper. Refrigerate until ready to use.
In a nonstick pan over medium heat, fry onion, garlic and cumin seed in oil. Cool slightly. Mix remaining ingredients together, then add the fried onion mixture. Stir to combine. Roll the mixture into balls (I made 9 but it'll depend on the size of the balls you make) then flatten slightly with your hands.
Heat a few tablespoons of oil in a nonstick pan over medium heat. Place the balls in the pan and flatten a bit more if desired. Cook for about 3-5 minutes per side or until golden. Drain on paper towel then serve on a pita with lettuce, tomato and yogurt sauce.

Tips:

I cut the pitas in half so they make a pocket. You could also roll the ingredients in the pita if you prefer. I haven't tried, but you could probably leave the mixture in a ball shape and deep fry them. They may turn out more like a falafel.