Chickpea Nuggets with Sweet Chilli Firekraut Dipping Sauce

Ingredients

Filling

• ½ cup rolled oats
• 1 Tbsp nutritional yeast (optional for flavour)
• ½ tsp garlic powder
• ½ tsp onion powder
• ¼ tsp salt                        
• 1 tin chickpeas, do not drain
• ¼ cup reserved chickpea water
• 1-2 Tbsp flour (we used gram flour, but plain or gluten free should work fine)

Crumb coating

• ½ cup bread crumbs or finely chopped nuts or seeds
• Finely chopped fresh herbs or spices of your choice
• We used ¼ tsp turmeric and ¼ tsp fresh thyme, finely chopped
• Reserved chickpea water for coating

Method:

1. Pre-heat oven to 180ºC
2. Place breadcrumbs on a baking tray and bake until crisp and toasted, about 5 minutes. Transfer to a bowl to cool while you make the nuggets. When cool, add in your choice of herbs and spices (if using).
3. Line a baking tray with baking paper.
4. Grind the oats in a food processor or blender to a fine flour. Transfer to a clean bowl.
5. Drain the chickpeas over a bowl, collecting and reserving the chickpea water from the tin.
6. Place the chickpeas, nutritional yeast, onion powder, garlic powder and salt into a food processor and pulse until crumbly.
7. Whisk ¼ cup reserved chickpea water, until frothy.
8. Add the frothy chickpea water and ½ cup oat flour into the food processor and pulse until it comes together as a ball.
9. If needed add in any remaining oat flour or flour of choice 1 tsp at a time until it comes together. The mixture should be a little sticky but hold together well. If it feels too wet add extra flour, if it feels to dry add a little more whisked chickpea water 1 tsp at a time.
10. Divide your chickpea mixture into equal sized nugget shapes, approximately 12.
11. Dip each nugget completely in the reserved chickpea water before dipping to thoroughly coat in the breadcrumb mix and place on the lined baking tray.
12. Bake until crispy and firm – approximately 20 minutes.
13. Enjoy with some fresh lemon juice and Sweet Chilli Firekraut dipping sauce (recipe below). If you’re not a fan of spicy heat, you can alternate the Firekraut for Turmeric & Ginger Superkraut for a sweet and sticky T&G dipping sauce instead.

Sweet Chilli Firekraut dipping sauce

• 1 red chilli (optional for EXTRA spicy)
• 2 garlic cloves, minced
• 1 tsp of fresh ginger, grated
• ½ cup apple cider vinegar
• ½ cup water
• ½ cup maple syrup
• 1 large forkful Red Hot Firekraut, finely chopped

Method:

1. Cut the chilli pepper in half and deseed, to reduce spiciness, if desired. Chop coarsely and place in a small chopper or blender. 
2. Add minced garlic and grated ginger together with water and vinegar and pulse a few times. 
3. Add mixture into a small saucepan and add maple syrup. Stir and bring to a boil on high heat.
4. Then lower to medium-low and simmer until the sauce thickens. This takes about 20 minutes. Stir occasionally to keep sauce from sticking to the bottom of the pan.
5. Let the sauce cool a little and pour thickened sauce into a covered container, once cooled stir in the finely chopped Firekraut and store in the fridge.
6. If you can’t handle the heat, exclude the chilli pepper and try stirring in finely chopped Turmeric & Ginger Superkraut instead.