Peter Tarantelli has been a vegan chef for 25 years and is the author of Simple To Gourmet Vegan cookbook. Want to get your hands on his book? WELL THEN YOU GOTTA HELP! Peter has set up a gofundme to raise money for publishing:
I have been self publishing several pressings of my vegan cookbook, Simple To Gourmet Vegan, and selling them out each time. Since I am only able to order a few books at a time due to the high cost of self publishing book production, color photos and book quality, I can not meet the demand of books requested for sale. The more books I order at one time, the more the production cost drops per book, significantly, which is why I am starting this go fund me. In turn, I will be able to sell the book at a lower cost. This will also allow me to get more healthy, easy recipes to the masses.
So donate if you can, it’s a very reasonable goal of $2000. And he’s given us a free recipe to preview! I made it this weekend and it’s v yummy! As the queen of chickpea frittatas, you know I appreciate the chickpea flour batter. And why can’t we just batter and fry all the veggies amirite? So here you go, the Simple To Gourmet Vegan cookbook’s Broccoli Chickpea Pakoras:
Indian Broccoli Chickpea Pakoras
The chickpea flour gives these a delicious taste and texture.
1 cup chickpea flour (available at health food stores and Indian markets)
1 cup freshly opened plain club soda/seltzer water
½ teaspoon salt
½ teaspoon garlic powder
2 cups medium cut broccoli florets with about an inch of the stem intact
Enough canola or vegetable oil to fill a non-stick fry pan ½ inch
Whisk together in a large bowl the chickpea flour, salt, garlic powder and club soda. Set aside.
Heat the non-stick pan with the oil in it over medium high heat for about 3 minutes. Test to see if it is ready to fry by flicking some of the batter into it. If it sizzles, it is ready.
Dip the florets into the chickpea batter and then immediately into the oil. Cook for 2 minutes, then flip broccoli and cook another 2 minutes until golden. Drain on a cookie cooling rack on top of a foil lined cookie sheet.
These can be reheated and re-crisped on the rack as well thrown into the oven for a few minutes. You can also use cauliflower for this recipe, it works wonderfully as well.