Recipe: Green Chickpea Dippers with Chipotle Mayo

Plant-based chef Bettina Campolucci Bordi shares her recipe for green chickpea dippers with chipotle mayo.

Bettina’s Chickpea Dippers Recipe

These make a great little starter and are the ultimate finger food – a mouthful that is oh-so satisfactory and a taster for things to come. I like wrapping these in baby gem lettuces with a dollop of creamy chipotle for good measure.

Note: The dried chickpeas will need soaking overnight, so bear this in mind when planning this dish.

Makes 18 dippers

Ingredients

 For the dippers:

• 250 g (9 oz/ 1 cup) dried chickpeas, soaked overnight in a large bowl of water
• 1⁄2 shallot, diced
• A handful of spinach leaves
• 1 tablespoon tahini
• Juice of 1⁄2 lemon
• 2 garlic cloves
• A pinch of salt
• Olive oil, for shallow-frying

For the chipotle mayo:

• 200 g (7 oz/3⁄4 cup) plant mayonnaise
• 1 teaspoon chipotle oil or a pinch of chipotle powder

To serve:

• 1–2 baby gem lettuce heads
• Sriracha sauce

Method

1. Drain and rinse the chickpeas that you soaked overnight.
2. Blitz all the ingredients for the dippers (except the olive oil) in a food processor or blender until smooth.
3. Using two large spoons, take 1 tablespoon of the dipper mixture and form into quenelles. Shallow-fry in olive oil in a frying pan (skillet) for a few minutes, turning to brown all sides. Repeat until you have used up all the mixture (about 18 dippers).
4. To make the chipotle mayo, mix both ingredients in a bowl and set aside.
5. To serve, separate individual baby gem lettuce leaves and arrange in a single layer on a platter. Place a chickpea dipper on each lettuce leaf and drizzle with the chipotle mayo and Sriracha sauce.