The Oldest Middle Eastern Dish: How to Make Delicious and Meatless Chickpea Kuku

Ingredients for 4 Servings

• Chickpeas: 1 cup

• Onion: 1

• Potato: 1 large

• Garlic: 3 cloves

• Eggs: 2-3

• Ground coriander and cumin: ½ teaspoon each

• Salt and black pepper: to taste

• Turmeric and oil: to taste

How to Prepare Chickpea Kuku

Step 1
To prepare a delicious and simple Chickpea Kuku, start by soaking the chickpeas in a bowl of water the night before. If possible, change the water a few times to fully remove the gas from the chickpeas.

Step 2
In this step, rinse the chickpeas and place them in a pot with 2 cups of water. Peel the potato and add it to the pot as well. Then, place the pot on the heat.

Step 3
It will take about an hour to cook the chickpeas, but some chickpeas take longer and might need about 1 hour and 30 minutes. Once the chickpeas and potatoes are cooked, drain them.

Step 4
In this step, place the potatoes and chickpeas in a food processor or blender and blend them until smooth. Then, transfer the chickpea and potato puree into a bowl to cool down.

Step 5
Now, grate the onion and press it by hand to extract all the excess water. Grate the garlic as well and add both the drained onion and garlic along with the eggs to the bowl with the puree.

Step 6
Add the ground coriander, cumin, a little turmeric, salt, and black pepper to the bowl and mix everything thoroughly until well combined. If the mixture is too loose, add a little breadcrumbs.

Step 7
Now, cover the bowl with plastic wrap and place it in the refrigerator for one hour to let the mixture rest. After this time, remove the bowl from the fridge, then heat a suitable pan on the stove.

Step 8
In this step, add some oil to the pan and let it heat up. Then, take a small portion of the kuku mixture (about the size of a small tangerine) and shape it into a round patty. Flatten it slightly and place it in the pan.

Step 9
Now, wait for one side of the kuku to brown, then flip it over to brown the other side as well. Continue frying all the kuku patties this way, then arrange them on a plate and serve with your preferred side dishes.