CHICKPEA WAFFLE BOATS FILLED WITH VEGETABLES

The Food Matters philosophy is all about eating more plants and fewer animal products and processed foods — and the positive impact this has on our health and the environment.

This is week 19 of the Food Matters Project. About 50 food bloggers share the Food  Matters philosophy and we are cooking our way through Mark Bittman's The Food Matters Cookbook.

 Lena from Mrs. Garlic Head was our host and she chose the recipe for Braised Chickpea Fritters and Vegetables. Some of us follow the recipe as written and some of us use the recipe for inspiration. In Mark's recipe he has you soak the dried chickpeas in water overnight and then process them with some other ingredients to make a chickpea batter. I knew I wanted a vessel in which to serve the vegetable sauce and that was when "batter" clicked in. I decided instead of soaking my chickpeas that I would roast the dried chickpeas and then grind them into a fine flour, and use that flour to make a waffle batter. You can see how I did this here.

I have a waffle maker that makes little boats. They were the perfect vessel for my tomato-eggplant-chard sauce.

The flour added a wonderful nuttiness to the batter and worked perfectly for my chickpea boats. You could taste the flavor of the roasted chickpeas in the waffles. They were delicious.

I used Mark Bittman's recipe for All-Purpose Tomato Sauce. It is a super quick and a very good sauce. When the sauce was finished I added one large eggplant, peeled and cut into cubes, 1 cup chopped fresh parsley and one bunch of chard, cut into ribbons. This sauce was delicious. It would be wonderful over pasta as well. The savory waffles were perfect when filled with the vegetable sauce.

ALL PURPOSE TOMATO SAUCE

Salt

1/4 cup olive oil

1 large onion or 2 medium onions, chopped

Black pepper

About 4 pounds canned whole or diced tomatoes (two 28-35 ounce cans), chopped, liquid reserved

1/2 cup fresh parsley or basil, chopped

Heat the oil in a large pot over medium heat. When it's hot, add the onion, sprinkle with salt and pepper, and cook, stirring occasionally, until soft, about 5 minutes.

Add the tomatoes. Cook, stirring occasionally, until the tomatoes break down and the mixture comes together and thickens a bit, 10-15 minutes. For a thinner sauce add some or all the reserved liquid and cook for another 5-10 minutes. Taste the sauce, adjust the seasoning if necessary. Stir in the parsley or basil and keep warm.

After making the sauce I added one large, peeled and chopped eggplant and one large bunch chard. Stems of the chard removed and leaves cut into ribbons. Cook for 20 minutes more until the eggplant is soft.

Recipe adapted from Mark Bittman

ROASTED CHICKPEA WAFFLES

1 3/4 cup roasted chickpea flour, recipe here.

2 tsp. baking powder

1/2 tsp. salt

1 large egg

1 1/2 cups lukewarm milk

1/3 cup melted butter or vegetable oil

Preheat waffle iron while you make the batter. Whisk together the flour, baking powder, and salt.

In a separate bowl, whisk together the egg, milk, and butter or oil.

Mix together the wet and dry ingredients, stirring just until combined.

Pour batter into waffle iron and cook until brown.

Makes 8 waffle boats or 3 1/2 round Belgian-style waffles.

This makes a savory waffle, for a sweeter waffle add 2 TBSP. sugar to the dry ingredients.

You can find the original  recipe here on Lena's blog.