FAINá (CHICKPEA FLOUR PANCAKE)

Fainá (Chickpea Flour Pancake) image

This simple and so delicious chickpea pancake or fainá is popular in Argentina and Uruguay but originated in the Liguria region of Italy. You can make it with various degrees of fermentation, and then enjoy it with a salad, in an Italian focaccia sandwich, or try it a caballo, on top of a slice of pizza, like you might find in Buenos Aires or Montevideo.

Provided by Melissa Johnson

Categories Recipes

Time 48m

Number Of Ingredients 6

Ingredients

400 grams water (1 2/3 cups)
150 grams chickpea flour (1 1/2 cups)
2-3 grams salt (1/2 tsp)
28-42 grams olive oil (2-3 Tbsp)
ground black pepper to taste
Optional 2-3 grams sourdough starter (1/4 tsp)

Steps:

Double-mill the dried chickpeas, once very coarse and a second time fine. You can also use store bought chickpea flour.
Mix in the water and the optional sourdough starter. Cover and let the batter sit a minimum of 2 hours and ideally overnight.
For a not-sour pancake, don't add the sourdough starter and limit the rest time to 12 hours. For a mildly sour/fermented pancake, add the sourdough starter but refrigerate the batter overnight, or skip the sourdough starter and rest the batter for about 24 hours. For a very sour pancake, add the sourdough starter and leave the batter at room temperature overnight, or skip the sourdough starter and leave the batter at room temperature for 3-4 days.
After the rest, add the salt and pepper to the batter and mix thoroughly.
Preheat your oven to 450F, with one shelf below the middle and another shelf higher than the middle of your oven.
Put the olive oil into a cold 10-inch skillet, cast iron or stainless steel, and heat it on the stove. Don't let the oil get to the point of smoking. I have an infrared thermometer and found 360F worked well.
Add the batter to the skillet and let it cook until the edges curl in a bit, 1-3 minutes.
Carefully transfer the skillet to the lower shelf of your hot oven.
Bake for about 25 minutes (10 minutes on the lower shelf and another 10-15 minutes on the higher shelf).
Use a metal spatula to separate the fainá from the base of the skillet; then leave it in the skillet to cool for about 10 minutes.
Transfer to a cutting board and serve. Fainá reheats well in a toaster oven or on a fry pan, but is also tasty cold.