I’m not quite sure whether this would qualify as a flatbread or a sort of savoury crepe, but I’m going to leave it as a flatbread so as not to confuse people who might mistakenly cook this up for brunch and smother it in maple syrup. Socca is originally Italian, and there, it is made in the oven, though I’ll show you two ways to make it.
I’ve been jumping on chickpea flatbread recipes ever since I mistakenly bought about 10 kilos of chickpea flour thinking that I could somehow fashion gluten-free treats out of it. Harri sent me a recipe for socca last week, and I started thinking how I could alter this in my own little way to make it a great accompaniment for curry or chili…and I do like to add spinach to everything.
You’ll need:
(Makes 2 large flatbreads / pancakes)
1 cup chickpea flour
1 cup water
2 tbsp olive oil
3/4 cup fresh spinach, chopped into very small pieces
Method:
Whisk everything together in a bowl and allow to stand for 15 minutes
There are 2 different ways to make this, and I’ll tell you both
1) Heat your grill / broiler and set a little oil in a heavy-bottomed frying pan
When the pan is super hot, pour half the mixture into it and set it under the grill / broiler
Allow to cook for 5 minutes, and bring it out when it looks cooked on top
Repeat for the second half of the mixture
2) Heat a little oil in a pan on the stove
Pour half the mixture into it and turn to coat the whole bottom of the pan, like you would with a crepe
Cook for 5 minutes, flipping half way
Repeat for the second half of the mixture
I like to cool the socca then cut it into squares and serve in a bowl. It’s a great dish for when friends are over and you’re having a tapas-style dinner.
This is gluten-free, so your coeliac friends can fill their boots, and it’s easy to make and cheap too, so you can easily make loads! The spinach brings a nice dose of iron and calcium and makes the bread slightly more interesting. Serve with any soup, sauce, curry or anything vaguely wet!
8 Comments
I’m kind of interested in your sweet potatoe curry here 🙂 did I mention that I LOVE sweet potatoes already? 😉
ps: these look awesome by the way 😀
Me too Astrid! They are my favorite potato!! I will post the curry up soon 😀
Hi I hope you can help. I was a bit confused by this recipe. I used one cup of chickpea flour and one cup of water but the mixture was solid and not really that whiskable at all. The recipe said to ‘pour’ it into the pan but I couldn’t because it was a solid dough like ball. So I added more water until it became batter like, but then it simply would not cook in the middle.
Is the mixture supposed to be solid? Is it really only one cup of water?
Thanks a lot! Hope I can get it right next time because it looks great
Hi Mook! Thanks for commenting and I’m sorry to hear that you’re having problems with the recipe!
I have never come across what you’re describing before. It’s definitely meant to be a runny mixture, the same sort of consistency as pancake batter, a little thicker than crepe batter. It’s certainly not meant to be solid!
Is the flour a mixture of chickpea and something else, or just straight chickpea flour? I used chickpea flour from an Indian grocery, and it was very fine rather than lumpy.
Another way to try it is to start with 1 cup of water in a bowl and add flour in, whisking all the time, until it reaches a pancake batter consistency – and then add in the oil and spinach. I can’t really think why it wouldn’t be working, so try that and let me know how it goes!
Thanks for the support and good luck with the socca! 🙂
I’ve just realised that I’ve been reading corn flour and not chickpeas flour… I tried it with corn flour and it didn’t work, I got a dough that wouldn’t cook (I tried it on a pan), but now, after reading the others comments I realised that I used the wrong flour so that would explain my problem! I’ll try it with chickpeas flour once I buy some and let you know how it goes!
I just made this for lunch, and it turned out great! I used parsley instead of spinach (I have an abundance of it in my garden). I tried cooking it on the pan, but had to finish it under the grill, as the bottom stuck to the pan – next time, I will try it in the oven.
I’ve never tried making this with parsley! I’ll have to give it a go. I’d recommend using a non-stick pan with a little oil next time, or the oven works just as well 🙂