As we are heading towards Easter, I thought of making something appropriate for the Lent. Normally, I do not eat chickpeas, I don’t like them. But when it comes to keftedes I eat practically every kind. So, I decided to make chickpea balls. I am telling you that this was my first time and although the first five were a total disaster, the following bunch went very well. If you haven’t tried this version so far, please do. It is something totally different from the usual taste of chickpeas.
Chickpea balls (Revithokeftedes with Yogurt Sauce)
Ingredients
For the chickpeas
2 cups chickpeas
3 tbsp parsley
½ tsp cumin
12 leaves fresh mint
Salt 1 tbsp for sure you can taste to see if you want more
¼ tsp dried oregano
¼ cup olive oil
½ cup all purpose flour
More olive oil for frying them
For the Yogurt Sauce
400 gr. Greek yogurt
¼ tsp cumin
1 tsp fresh dill finely cut
Salt
2 tbsp virgin olive oil
Instructions
For the chickpeas
Put the 2 cups of chickpeas in a bowl and cover with water. Let them stand for 24 hours. When you are ready to cook them, drain them and put them in sauce pan. Cover with water and boil for 10 minutes. Discard the water. Put all the ingredients along with the chickpeas in a blender and puree them. Add the olive oil and knead for 1 minute, until it becomes like a dough.
In skillet, put olive oil just enough to cover the bottom of it and put it in the stove over medium/ high heat. Take a portion of the chickpea dough, as much as a small lemon, make it like a patty and flour it. Continue with all the dough and then start frying them. Be very careful because they burn very easily. It takes approximately one minute per side to fry. You will understand they are ready when they take a nice golden color. Take them out.
For the Yogurt Sauce
Mix everything in a bowl and it is ready.
Now put the keftedes in a plate and the sauce in a small bowl and serve them.
