Chickpea Tikkis (cakes) and Saffron Soul book review.

It has been ages since I added a cook book to my collection. Saffron Soul by Mira Manek, is more like a journal than a vegetarian cook book, exploring her family's traditional recipes that she has grown up with. I like this book as it shows the author's personality and heritage which is similar to my own and it brings back my childhood memories of learning to cook with my mother and grandmother.

The book features many recipes shared by her family, together with new fusion recipes that have been inspired and adapted with ingredients of this day and age. The recipes are easy to follow and beautifully illustrated. Other than the recipes, I loved reading  the snippets of personal family history the author has shared together with her family photos.

There are many recipes in the book that I have grown up with and I can see similarities, however I also loved the fusion recipes such as Warm curried courgetti salad with maple chillied seeds, Quinoa Bhel on chilled watermelon and the Spelt and quinoa rotis.

Book Details :
Saffron Soul by Mira Manek
ISBN 978-1-911127-18-5
Retails  £20.00

My score for the book: 14/15

Content -5/5
Illustrations-5/5
Recipe Instructions-4

 **I was sent a copy of the book to review as always all thoughts and opinions expressed are my own.

I have chosen to make the Chickpea tikkis, which are savoury cakes from the book. I have recreated the recipe with a few minor changes.

print recipe

Chickpea Tikkis

by Nayna Kanabar July-15-2017

Chickpea pattis cooked with spices and herbs and shallow fried.

Ingredients:

• 240 g Pre boiled white chickpeas.
• 2 Spring onions finely chopped
• 1 Red chilli finely chopped
• 2 tablespoons Roasted peanuts ground coarsely
• 1 tablespoon Fresh coriander finely chopped
• 1/2 teaspoon Salt
• 1/2 teaspoon Turmeric powder
• 1 tablespoon Corn flower
• 1 tablespoon Water
• 1 tablespoon Sesame seeds
• 1 tablespoon Lemon Juice
• 3 tablespoons for shallow frying Sunflower oil
• For serving-Hummus, pitta bread, salad and lemon wedges 

Method:

1. Put the chick peas in a large bowl and coarsely mash them with a potato masher.2. In a frying pan add 1 tablespoon of oil and when its hot add the spring onions and red chilli and saute for 2 minutes.3. Add the salt, chilli power, turmeric powder, coarsely ground peanuts and the mashed chickpeas. Mix together and cook for another 2-3 minutes until all the spices infuse.4. Take the mixture off the heat and allow to reach room temperature. Once cooled add the chopped coriander, lemon juice, corn flower and water so that you can bind the mixture into small golf sized balls.5. Flatten the balls into pattis and roll them in sesame seeds. Place on tray and chill f pattis or 30 minutes.6. Heat the remaining oil in a frying pan and shallow fry the pattis in small batches until golden brown on both sides, remove from pan and drain on kitchen paper.7. To serve toast some pitta bread and spread the inside with hummus, add salad and chick pea pattis and serve with lemon wedges.

Details

Prep time: 20 mins Cook time: 15 mins Total time: 35 mins (plus 30 mins chilling time)Yield: 10 Tikkis