Desi Chickpea Quesadillas

Desi Chickpea Quesadillas

So I gifted a 3 way grill to my Mom on her birthday last year. It has 3 attachments to toast, grill sandwiches and make waffles. Mom used it to do the usual, make toasties, grill paninis and frankies. When I visited my parents a couple of months ago, as usual Mom and I were playing around in the kitchen wondering what to cook for dinner. As you’d guess, I get my obsession of cooking and trying out new recipes from my Mum. Anyway we tried various combos of what we had in the pantry and came up this version of Desi Chickpeas. It needs a little bit of planning, soaking the chickpeas the night before, but you can buy canned if you are so tempted and want to make this tonight 🙂

The only twist here is that I don’t really use tortillas here, instead, I have used layered parathas or otherwise known as Malabar Parathas for a ‘desi’ twist. These are very easily available in any supermarket in the frozen foods aisle. Alternatively, you can always make flour tortillas or rotis (while ensuring you don’t cook them fully as you will be grilling them later). Another key element is the Chickpea patties I made using mashed chickpeas, potatoes, onions, coriander and some spices. What makes this dish a winner is the sauce – I made a super quick and easy tomato and pepper sauce to spread around the paratha, sprinkle some cheese around and assemble with the patty. It is Y-U-M-M-Y.

Desi Chickpea Quesadillas

Serves 2 | Prep time : 30 min (Overnight soaking required) | Cook time : 25 min

Ingredients:

• 1 cup chickpeas, soaked overnight and then boiled
• 1 potato, boiled and mashed
• 2 onions, medium, 1 chopped and another one sliced length-wise
• 1 small green bell pepper, sliced lengthwise
• 2 tomatoes, pureed.
• 2 tsp ginger garlic paste
• 1 handful coriander leaves, tightly packed
• 4 malabar parathas, frozen (I used the brand Buffet)
• 1 tsp Cumin powder
• 1 tsp Garam Masala powder
• 1/2 cup processed cheddar cheese (or cashew cheese for a vegan version)
• 1/2 cup vegetable or olive oil

Directions:

Chickpea patties:

In a bowl, mix mashed potatoes and chickpeas, chopped onions, chopped coriander, 1 tsp ginger garlic paste and red chili powder and garam masala powder for a good ‘desi’ measure. Mix well. Roll them into slightly long-ish patties. Set aside in the fridge for about 15 minutes.

In a skillet or a non-stick pan, with a few drops of oil, fry the patties until they look golden brown and have brown marks.

Tomato and green pepper sauce:

In a pan, add 1 tbsp oil and 1 tsp ginger garlic paste. You  then add sliced onion, and bell pepper and sauté for about 3-4 minutes or until soft and onion is translucent.

Add tomato puree and let it boil with a lid on, on a medium flame. in about 3 minutes you will see the sauce thicken and the colour get darker. Follow this by adding cumin powder, red chilli powder and salt to taste. Allow to boil a couple minutes more and then turn the flame off. Set aside.

Malabar Paratha:

The great thing about these parathas is that you can roast them right out of the freezer. On a non-stick pan, place a paratha (you don’t even need oil for this) or a tortilla/roti (if you are not using the paratha) and roast partially till you see tiny brown marks on it.

The Assembly:

Set the roasted paratha on a flat surface. Spread about 2 tbsps of the tomato sauce over the paratha, place the chickpea patty in the half moon side of the paratha and sprinkle some grated cheese. Flip the other side of the paratha and press it down. Should look like a semi-circle.

I used a panini grill for this, but you can very well do it on a non-stick pan. Get your Desi Chickpea Quesadillas on the non-stick pan on a medium flame and cover with a steel or metal plate. Place something heavy on top of the plate so that the quesadilla is pressed down. Turn over in about 2-3 minutes and do the same for the other side.

Serve your Desi Chickpea Quesadillas with any condiment of your choice. I love ketchup or mayo.

Enjoy 🙂