Home, Cooking: Greens Sandwich with Chickpea Pancakes

Home, Cooking is a cooking column written by Rebecca Onion, who utilizes local bounty to make fresh meals.

Every year, daffodil shoots emerge in my yard, only to be crushed by cold, just as our little hearts were after last week’s reprieve blustered into this week’s snow and chill. At a time like this, I like to double down on greens — to keep faith with the idea of a vegetable world. The kingdom of summer is coming! 

I first made this recipe a few years ago when trying to use up some chickpea flour I’d purchased for gluten-free cookies (this is a good recipe for that, if you’re in the same boat; simply ignore that website’s name!) 

The result was instructive: Chickpea flour makes a really good pseudo-tortilla, a “pancake,” or thick crêpe, that has significant heft, protein, and a rich texture. You could adapt this recipe in any number of directions, fitting all kinds of vegetables into these little packages, but I like the original mixture, which has good “the time change is around the corner” vibes. 

Greens Sandwich with Chickpea Pancakes (adapted from Bon Appétit) 

Ingredients:

1 ½ cups chickpea flour

3 Tbsp. plus 3 tsp. olive oil, divided

Kosher salt

1 medium red onion, thinly sliced

6 garlic cloves, smashed and then sliced

1 cup brussels sprouts, thinly sliced

1 small bunch Tuscan kale or other kale, ribs and stems removed, thinly sliced

2 tsp. hot sauce, plus more for serving

8 oz. sharp cheddar (or could use manchego or gruyere), coarsely grated

Plain yogurt (for serving, if you prefer) 

Instructions:

Preheat oven to 350°. Whisk chickpea flour and 2 cups plus 1 Tbsp. cold water in a small bowl. Whisk in three Tbsp. oil and a pinch of salt. Let sit at least 10 minutes and up to one hour — this is when the flour plumps up with water, to make a batter. 

Meanwhile, heat 2 Tbsp. oil in a large nonstick skillet over medium-high. Add onion and cook for as much time as you have, to soften and possibly caramelize (five–10 minutes is fine if you are in a hurry). 

Add garlic and brussels sprouts to the onion, and cook for about 3 minutes, to soften a bit. Add kale and cook, tossing as you go, for about three more minutes. Add twp tsp of your hot sauce, salt and pepper, and remove from heat. If you’re using the same skillet for the pancakes, transfer greens to a bowl and wipe out the skillet. 

Swirl 1 tsp. oil in skillet to coat; heat over medium-high. Scoop ¼ cup of the batter to make your first pancake, and pour into the skillet, picking it up and swirling it so that the batter drips first to one side, then another, making the circle bigger, so that it ends up being about 6 or 7 inches in diameter. (You will want all the pancakes to be roughly the same size.) 

Cook about two minutes, flip, then cook again for about one minute. Transfer finished pancakes to a plate or a baking sheet as you go—you should end up with twelve of them, for six sandwiches. 

Divide vegetables between 6 pancakes and top with cheese and remaining six pancakes. Bake until cheese is melted, 6–8 minutes. Eat with yogurt and hot sauce, if you like. 

I have had luck resuscitating these out of the fridge a few days after making them, by frying them in a skillet with butter. Or, try freezing these before baking, then adding a few more minutes onto the baking time.