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:
- Pre-heat oven to 180ºC
- 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).
- Line a baking tray with baking paper.
- Grind the oats in a food processor or blender to a fine flour. Transfer to a clean bowl.
- Drain the chickpeas over a bowl, collecting and reserving the chickpea water from the tin.
- Place the chickpeas, nutritional yeast, onion powder, garlic powder and salt into a food processor and pulse until crumbly.
- Whisk ¼ cup reserved chickpea water, until frothy.
- Add the frothy chickpea water and ½ cup oat flour into the food processor and pulse until it comes together as a ball.
- 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.
- Divide your chickpea mixture into equal sized nugget shapes, approximately 12.
- 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.
- Bake until crispy and firm – approximately 20 minutes.
- 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:
- Cut the chilli pepper in half and deseed, to reduce spiciness, if desired. Chop coarsely and place in a small chopper or blender.
- Add minced garlic and grated ginger together with water and vinegar and pulse a few times.
- Add mixture into a small saucepan and add maple syrup. Stir and bring to a boil on high heat.
- 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.
- 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.
- If you can’t handle the heat, exclude the chilli pepper and try stirring in finely chopped Turmeric & Ginger Superkraut instead.