Confessions of a Foodie
Garbanzo bean flour crepes, stuffed with mushroom and ricotta, are packed with protein
Garbanzo bean flour makes guilt-free, protein-packed crepes.
Alesson I’ve learned as
I’ve walked my food journey: A cheat meal twice a week keeps me from binging on bad-for-me food. By the by, my average cheat meal these days is not the calorie- and carb-laden overindulgence it once was.
Here’s an example: Last weekend, I was on the tail end of a looming deadline that did not leave any f lexibility for movement. Not being a morning person, I stumbled out of bed before the sun was up and dove headfirst into the project to make my deadline, which meant I had to skip breakfast, including my morning cuppa joe. When I finally hit the send button that would whisk the project away, the morning was gone, and lunchtime had rolled around. I was famished.
By this time, my auntie (and housemate) was up and about and ready to break her fast. We ordered pickup because auntie wanted waff les, and neither of us felt like cooking. I ordered crepes featuring grilled chicken and vegetables. Typically, I ask them to hold the hollandaise but forgot to this time, so I merely scraped it off. Without the sauce, these crepes are about 300 calories each, and they come in pairs. I also asked for one whole-grain pancake on the side (170 calories). I drizzled a teaspoon of blueberry syrup over my little pancake, and I enjoyed my meal, guilt-free. That was my cheat meal for the weekend. Not overly indulgent, but much more than my average weekday meal. It left me satiated so I could continue eating healthfully for the rest of the weekend.
Chasing away the guilt
Like pancakes and most other carbcentric foods, crepes have always induced feelings of guilt, with their seemingly decadent fillings and sauces. I’ve always feared making them myself since I’ve read about how fussy they are to make, and how hard they are to master — especially in the pouring-swirling-f lipping department. Earlier this year, I decided that homemade crepes would be on my “just-get-over-it-and-makeit” food list (souff lés and Boeuf Bourguignon are also on this list). I pored over recipes and videos, eventually finding an Alton Brown “Good Eats” episode on the subject that gave tips for the perfect batter, and I thought, yeah, I can totally do this.
But then I gave myself another challenge: Develop a recipe that didn’t use white f lour. So more research ensued, leading me to Nik Sharma’s blog, “A Brown Table.” Sharma has a chickpea (aka, garbanzo bean) scallion crepe recipe that I felt I could readily adapt. A quick perusal of my pantry told me I still had garbanzo bean f lour left over from a cookie recipe I made for Starbuck, my cocker spaniel, not too long ago.
I’ve made crepes several times now, adjusting the recipe here and there. The very first crepe was a bit thick because I didn’t swirl fast enough. Not having a crepe pan, I used my trusty Lodge round griddle. Cast iron, baby! Not light. But from the second one on, I got the swirling down and made some pretty consistently sized crepes.
Back to this batter: Sharma’s version makes a few tweaks to what he called the original Indian version by adding chili f lakes and scallions to the basic recipe of chickpea f lour, salt and water. I took it one step further by adding an egg for richness and, honestly, to balance the f lavor. I was afraid the garbanzo flour would be too overpowering, making the crepes taste one-note. Another ingredient tweak I made was a more personal choice of substituting chives for the scallions. I wanted the onion notes in the batter toned down a bit while also adding just a whisper of garlic essence without having to add garlic. Initially, I added the chives to the blender the same time as everything else but felt it made that batch of crepes a tad bitter.
The second time I worked the recipe, I stirred in the chives after everything else was blended, making the chives a nice pop of f lavor, sans bitterness.
The final version of this recipe takes inspiration from Sharma by using chickpea f lour and uses Alton Brown’s suggestions for making the crepe batter, while the stuffing is 100 percent me.
A bit of a disclaimer before I send you on your way to make these tasty crepes: You need to love garbanzos if you’re going to make these. The distinctive bean flavor is front and center. I love garbanzos, and I dig these crepes. My sister, who helped me with this photo shoot, liked them even more than I did.
To be sure, these are tasty, proteinpacked and guilt-less eats! Fill them with whatever you want. I opted for meatless for this post since I like to eat vegetarian a few times a week to give my digestive system a break. But I’ve also stuffed them with grilled chicken, topping them with a rustic tomato sauce. Mmmm-mmm!
You can totally get creative with the fillings. Want to stay the meatless route? Try loading them up with some roasted curried cauliflower florets. Or how about a hash of sweet potato and greens? Let your imagination take over and make this your own!