Socca (Chickpea Pancake)

Socca

A friend PN mentioned that she would be going to Nice this weekend and that set me thinking of the fabulous markets in Old Nice where they sell hot crispy Socca or chickpea pancakes. Thinking led to doing and I find myself preparing the batter for it the minute I woke up this morning. Besides, we were supposed to visit the truffle festival in Alba, but gave up on it as Baby Boy had a birthday party to attend yesterday and Hub didn't manage to make any reservations in the Michelin 1-star restaurants in Alba that he wanted to lunch in today. And did I mention that there's something wrong electricity-wise with our gate? We're locked in today, it's not working.

Chickpea flour

Socca :

250g Chickpea flour

150ml Water

2 Tbsp Olive Oil

1/2 Tsp Salt

Cumin seeds (optional)

Fresh Coriander leaves (optional)

The batter is easy to make, just make a well in the chickpea flour and pour in the water, olive oil, salt and cumin seeds/coriander leaves if you're using them. Mix well and set aside for at least 30 minutes. Actually you can choose to use more or less water depending on the kind of socca you wish to make and what you intend to do with it later e.g. eat it as it is, make a pizza out of it, have it wafer thin or thick like Spanish tortilla etc.

The batter

Normally, one has to cook it in the oven (like a pizza). You preheat your oven to 180°C, very generously oil a pan with olive oil, spread the batter thinly on it and bake for 20-40 minutes. Whether you bake it on both sides or just one is up to you; Whether you brown some onions, garlic etc in the oil before adding in the batter is also up to you. But it's really best eaten hot, crispy on the outside and eventually soft on the inside, with freshly ground black pepper.

I cooked mine in a crepe pan and they turned out looking very rustic, dry and ugly. Ate them with leftover ayam masak merah which tasted even better 2 days later.