Food Blog siciliano

Pour the chickpea flour, a 500g bag into a pan, preferably non-stick, and add 1.5 litres of mineral water. To dissolve any lumps that form, we recommend using an immersion blender, a couple of seconds are enough and it all becomes an emulsion.

Add just a pinch of salt, so as to leave freedom for salting after frying together with black pepper. Also add plenty of chopped parsley and for those who like it, chopped spring onion, shallot, which gives the panelle an added value and a particular taste, or some fennel seeds.

Put on the stove at medium-high heat for about 40 minutes and in any case until the mixture is very dense and puffs of air are created which mean that it is boiling, always taking care to mix well on the bottom, boil for a couple more minutes and cooking is finished.

To form the panelle, the traditional system involves spreading the hot mixture into molds, to simplify we can use the back of the plates which usually has a hollow of about 8/10 cm. in diameter and a thickness of 4/5 mm. perfect for creating a panelle.

The procedure is simple:

• Prepare at least 12 small plates.
• Without turning off the flame, lower the heat to minimum to maintain the temperature.
• Start spreading the mixture on the bottom of the plates with a spatula or wooden spoon.
• Let it cool while you finish spreading it on all twelve plates.
• With the help of a second person, start removing the cold panelle from the plates to continue spreading the dough.
• This spreading and removing process must be done until the pan is completely empty.no a svuotamento totale della pentola.
• To easily remove the panella from the plate, our advice is to cut it in two and use the same knife to lever it out, so that two half-moon shaped panelle come out.
• Spread the panelle out to cool, but they are already ready to fry.

  

Another alternative system to form the panelle is to pour the mixture into a container, let it cool well and cut into slices of about 4mm.

Once the panella is formed, fry it in plenty of sunflower seed oil or your preference until golden brown. The swelling is normal and is an added value that identifies the original shaping, in fact it is obtained only by shaping it in traditional wooden shapes and on a plate.

Panelle fried in this way can be enjoyed alone or in a sandwich, add salt and spices to your liking and for those who like it, you can add drops of lemon.