Crispiest chickpeas + charred broccoli with gochujang tahini yoghurt

crispiest chickpeas + charred broccoli with gochujang tahini yoghurt

Crispy chickpeas are now commonplace in modern food vernacular but how do we get them even crispier, without having to use more oil. I turned to a technique I first shared in Tenderheart (in the grilled baby bok choy with miso-gochujang butter and crispy chickpeas recipe), where I dust the chickpeas in chickpea flour and roast them at high temperature. The chickpea flour not only forms a crispy exterior around the inner ‘pea’’, but I chose it mostly for flavour - while cornflour/cornstarch or potato starch would also work, chickpea flour imparts its signature nuttiness, reinforcing the chickpea flavour. The chickpea-iest chickpea ever…also the crispiest.

My next task was to level up the coconut yoghurt. To tame its sweet undertones, I added tahini paste for earthiness, along with gochujang for punchy spice and a vibrant hue.

The resulting salad brims with maximum texture and big flavours. Each bite is exciting.

Serves 4
gluten free, vegan

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Ingredients

• 500 g cooked chickpeas (about 2 x 400 g cans, drained)
• 35 g (1/3 cup) chickpea flour (besan)
• 2 teaspoons gochugaru or ½ teaspoon red pepper/chilli flakes (or to your taste)
• sea salt and black pepper
• extra virgin olive oil
• 2 heads broccoli (about 675g / 1.5 pound), cut into small florets
• 2 scallions, thinly sliced

Gochujang tahini yoghurt

• 1/2 cup (125g) coconut or Greek yoghurt
• 2 tablespoons tahini paste
• 1 tablespoon gochujang paste
• 1 clove garlic, grated (I use microplane)
• 1 tablespoon extra-virgin olive oil
• sea salt and black pepper

1. Preheat oven to 425˚F / 220˚C.

2. Place the chickpeas into a medium bowl and add the chickpea flour, gochugaru or red pepper/chilli flakes, and season well with sea salt and black pepper. Drizzle generously with olive oil and toss well until the chickpeas are well coated and there is no more dry flour. Transfer to a baking sheet and roast until golden and crispy, giving the pan a shake after 10 minutes, for a total of about 20 to 22 minutes. Remove from the oven and set aside.

3. Meanwhile heat a large skillet over medium high heat. When hot, drizzle with oil and add the broccoli (you’ll need to work in batches as all the broccoli will not fit at once), taking care not to overcrowd the pan. Season with sea salt and black pepper and leave to fry, undisturbed, for 2–3 minutes, until charred; turn the broccoli over and cook the other side until charred and crisp-tender. Remove from the pan and allow to cool. Continue cooking the remaining broccoli.

4. In a medium bowl, add the yoghurt, tahini, gochujang, garlic and olive oil and whisk until smooth. The sauce should be look enough to dollop so if it’s too thick, add a tablespoon or more of water, until it’s smooth and loose enough to fall off the whisk. Taste and season with salt and black pepper.

5. To serve, spread half of the gochujang tahini yoghurt onto the bottom of a serving plate, top with the broccoli and then scatter over the crispiest chickpeas. Dollop the remaining yoghurt on top, drizzle with little more olive oil, scatter over the scallions, and finish with a final season of salt and pepper. Serve immediately.