Chickpea Fries

Times have been quieter around Theresa's office and it's times like this that parcels start turning up at our door. Usually from Amazon. The latest was this baking sheet.

Another unglamorous kitchen accessory that just makes life a lot easier

Made of some kind of black plastic it didn't grab me straight away. Then I used it as a liner on top of the tray; what a difference. It still crisps up whatever you're roasting without the hassle of crisping half of it on to the tray, which you're then forced to scrub for half an hour after dinner's a distant memory. I'm not bitter, but this has happened too many times, particularly in the creation of  my (one of many I hasten to add) piece-de-resistance the chickpea chip  - or fry - location dependent.

A more nutritional and lighter option than eating regular potato-fries for dinner, it is the long-time best friend of our Pizza-Fridays. However, usually, I lose half of them stuck to the sheet and the other half get kind of twisted and mushed as I scrape them off the tray. But no longer. Get yourself some of these baking sheets and give this recipe a go. It's so easy and the results are amazing. I can honestly say that now I have the tray to preserve the shape, which was always the problem previously, I prefer these over their potato-friends.

Now tell me that's not a good shot?

Chickpea Fries

Makes a serving for  2 people

1 cup chickpea flour

2 1/2 cups water (or stock can be substituted for a deeper flavour)

1 tsp salt

1 tbs nutritional yeast

3 tbs olive oil

1. Preheat your oven to 400 degrees and set up your plastic baking sheet (or you could use grease-proof paper, or a rubber sheet if you don't have this) on a baking tray.
2. Before placing on the heat, mix 1 tsp of the salt and 1 tbs of the olive oil with the rest of the ingredients, using  a hand-held whisk in a small saucepan.
3. Now slowly heat over a medium-low flame, whisking all the time to avoid lumps. When the mixture starts to spit a little, turn down the heat, and switch to stirring with a wooden spoon. It should start pulling away from the sides.
4. After another 7-8 minutes, the mixture should start to get pretty thick and dry, really pulling away from the sides of the pan. Grease a plate and a spatula with a little olive oil.
5. Using the spatula, tip the contents of the pan out onto the greased plate. Working quickly, smooth it over the plate roughly 1/2 cm thick. Try to get the surface as smooth as possible for better looking chips.
6. Refrigerate the mixture to allow it to set for at least an hour. Once set, take out of the fridge and slice it into your desired shape of chip.
7. Carefully; the chips are quite fragile, place the chips on the baking sheet and toss with the remaining olive oil and salt. Bake in the oven for 25-30 minutes, taking out and turning at least once during the process to ensure an even crisp.