A Farinata is quite like a Spanish tortilla or pancake but made with chickpea flour (otherwise known as gram flour) and it’s hard to believe there are no eggs in it! This was a bit of an experiment but a  surprising success and as a farinata is free from all the major allergens is a perfect fussy foodie snack, nibble or lunch.

Farinata Ingredients
150g gram flour (chickpea flour)
400ml lukewarm water
1 tbsp oil
1/2tsp salt
1/2 a red pepper
1 small red onion
1 chilli, finely sliced or 1/2 tsp chilli flakes

Farinata

Farinata

How to make Farinata

Measure the flour and salt into a big bowl and gradually mix in the water, then whisk it up for about a minute. You could cover and rest the batter for a couple of hours if you have time (which I didn’t!).

Preheat the oven to 230C/gas 8. Pour the oil into a nonstick baking tray and heat it in the oven until it is smoking hot.

Get rid of any froth from the top of the batter, give it a quick stir and pour into the hot tray.

Scatter the toppings (remaining ingredients) over the batter (of course you can improvise with these – ham and mushroom or spinach and prawns perhaps) and bake for about 20 minutes or until set.

Season with freshly ground black pepper and allow to rest for 10 minutes before cutting the Farinata into slices like a pizza.

So if your free from diet deprives you of omelette, quiche or anything else along these lines, give this simple but tasty Farinata recipe a try.