Chickpea and corn fritters are a delicious evening snack or a party appetizer made with chickpeas, boiled corn, and a few herbs and spices.
Chickpea and corn fritters are delicious, crispy, and simple to make. They’re great for kids’ snacks or as appetizers for parties.
The ingredients are simple and easy to access – cooked chickpeas, boiled corn, carrots, corn flour and a few choice herbs and spices.
Fritters are the best way to use up any leftover vegetables you may want to use up from the fridge before your next fridge stock up.
Ingredients to make chickpea and corn fritters
For any fritter, the main need is an ingredient with starch and in this recipe, that ingredient is chickpeas. I always cook extra channa to have on hand for various recipes or as a snack – hummus, fritters or a simple crunchy air fried canna after making chole.
I’ve used one cup of cooked chickpeas for this recipe.
Boiled corn is one of the other key ingredients I’ve used in the recipe. I always have frozen corn with me and it comes in handy when making quick evening snacks.
The other ingredients I’ve used are one small carrot and a few pieces of sliced black olives. I equally sized slice them into small pieces so that they get evenly cut when in the food processor.
Spices and herbs that I use for any fritter recipes are salt, pepper, red chilli powder and chaat masala. The other options you can think of to flavour your fritters are – oregano + parsley, peri-peri spice or, if you want to keep it simple – salt and pepper.
You will also need corn flour or all purpose flour (Maida) as a binding agent to remove excess moisture.
The other ingredients you can use, along with the chickpea and corn, are
- Finely chopped green chillies
- Finley chopped onions
- Olives
- Jalapenos
How to make chickpea and corn fritters?
Take a cup of frozen corn and add it to hot water to allow it to thaw. If you are using corn kernels that aren’t cooked, pressure cook for two whistles or boil until the corn is tender. If you are using corn from the cob, cook them in a pressure cooker for 2 whistles and cut them from the cob once cool enough to handle.
For the chickpeas, if using canned chickpeas, drain the water from the can, rinse the chickpeas and keep it aside. If you using dried chickpeas, soak one cup overnight. Drain the water and add fresh water to pressure cook the chickpeas (3 whistles).
To a food processor, add the cooked chickpeas, boiled corn, chopped carrots, olives, corn flour and spices. Run the processor until you have a homogenous mixture or until the ingredients are all small enough to make patties.
(If you do not have a food processor, you can smash the cooked chickpeas, and chop the cooked corn into small pieces. Instead of cutting the carrots into small pieces, you may grate them add to the mixture.)
The fritter or patty mixture should not have too much moisture, so adjust the corn flour/madia quantity accordingly.
Once the mixture is ready, take a small ball and flatten it to a thin patty. The flatter you prepare the patty, the crispier the fritter will be. Once you’ve made all the patties, keep it covered. If you want to make the fritters later, you can store them in the fridge and even use them the next morning.
Place a pan on medium flame and add 3-4 tablespoons of cooking oil. Once the oil is warm, place the patties in the oil without crowding them. Shallow fry the fritters for 1-1.5 minutes on one side. Once the bottom of the fritter has sufficiently browned, turn the fritter over to shallow fry the other side. After both sides are brown and crisp, remove from the pan and drain excess oil on a kitchen paper.
If you want to be fancy, sprinkle a teaspoon on dried parsley or fresh finely chopped coriander leaves. You can even place a wedge of lime to drizzle on top when eating.
Serve them hot off the pan with a dip of your choice.
How to cook chickpea and corn fritters in the oven or air fryer?
If you are using the air fryer to the prepared patties, brush some oil on one side and place them in the air fryer at 180 C for 10 minutes. At the 5 minute mark, pause the air frying, flip the fritter and brush a little oil to the other side.
If using the oven, preheat to 200C for ten minutes. Place the patties on a baking tray lined with parchment paper. Brush oil to the fritters on side and bake for 10 minutes. At the five-minute mark, flip the fritter and brush a coat of oil. Bake it until you get the desired brown colour.
Personally, I prefer to shallow fry on a pan with a little oil at the base of the pan since it gives me the desired crispy texture.
Recipe
Chickpea and Corn Fritters
Ingredients
- 1 cup Chickpeas cooked
- 1 cup Corn Kernels boiled
- 1 Carrot small
- 7-8 Black Olives optional
- 2 tbsp Corn Flour/ Maida
Spices and Herbs
- 1/2 tsp Salt adjust accordingly
- 1/2 tsp Pepper powder
- 1 tsp Red Chilli powder
- 1 tsp Chaat masala powder
- 1 Green chilli finely chopped
Instructions
- Prepare your boiled chickpeas and boiled corn. (Look at the earlier part of this post for detailed instructions)
- To a food processor, add all the ingredients – cooked chickpeas, cooked corn, olives, cornflour spices and herbs. Blend until you have a course mixture.
- Do a little taste test to ensure that it is to your liking. Bring it to a bowl and mix a little with the use of your hands.
- Make little balls, the size of ping pong balls and flatten them to make patties. Keep making the patties until all the chickpea-corn mixture is used up.
- Place a shallow pan on medium heat, and add 2-3 tablespoons of cooking oil. Once the oil is warm, place the chickpea-corn patties in the center without crowding.
- Once the bottom is sufficiently brown, flip the fritter to brown the other side.
- Remove from the pan and drain the excess oil on a kitchen towel or paper. Garnish the chickpea-corn fritters with some parsely and drizzle lemon juice on top.
- Serve hot with a dip of your choice.
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