You'll Fall in Love with Chickpea Rolls!

My mission today: prepare a delicious, flavourful vegetarian "fast food" that's easy to freeze and easy to serve. Chickpea rolls are kind of like a fallafel, wrapped in puff pastry and baked in the oven.  These rolls highlight the goodness and texture of the chickpeas, supported by the herbs and spices and a little bit of kick from the hot pepper.  It's really goodness wrapped in puff pastry.

Is it fast food?  Well, I made the rolls and froze them.  Need supper in a hurry?  Crank up the oven and pop these goodies in for about 12 minutes and you're ready to go!  It doesn't get much better than this.  Perfect for the house or the cottage!

Watch for variations- coming soon...

This recipes makes two ten inch rolls, cut into four pieces each.

 Ingredients
1 cup     dried chickpeas
2 tbsp    olive oil
4             garlic cloves, finely chopped
1 cup    red pepper, seeded and finely chopped
1/2 cup onion, finely chopped
1 small  hot pepper, seeded and finely chopped
1 tsp     cumin seeds
1 tsp     coriander seeds
1 lbs     spinach leaves, washed and roughly chopped
2 tbsp  tahini
1/4 cup fresh breadcrumbs
1 tbsp   lemon juice
1 tbsp   plain yogourt
1 large handful, fresh mint leaves, chopped
1 large handful, fresh coriander leaves, chopped
1/2 tsp  cayenne
salt to taste
1 lb      package of puff pastry, thawed
egg wash
paprika

Directions
Soak chickpeas overnight.  Drain, cover with water and cook until soft.  Drain chickpeas and mash them until slightly lumpy- the mixture should not be smooth.

Heat oil over medium heat.  Add garlic, onion, red pepper and hot pepper- cook three - four minutes or until softened.  Add cumin, coriander and cook until fragrant, approximately 10 minutes.  Add the spinach, stir one minute, until slightly wilted, remove from heat. Let cool.

Transfer the mixture to a bowl, add the chickpeas, tahini, breadcrumbs, lemon juice, yogourt, mint, coriander and cayenne.  Add salt to taste.

Cut puff pastry into two five by ten inch (or twelve inch) rectangles.

Preheat the oven to 400 degrees.

Divide the mixture into two portions.  Roll each portion into a log the length of your puff pastry rectangle. Place each log lengthwise into the center of the puff pastry and brush the long edge with the egg wash.  Fold the pastry over (like a sushi roll).  Brush all over with egg wash and sprinkle with paprika.  Bake in the oven for approximately 12 minutes or until golden brown.  To serve, cut the roll into serving pieces.

If you want to freeze the rolls, do so before cooking them.  Place them on a cookie sheet, in the freezer, until frozen.  Then place into freezer bags until ready to cook.  When you want to serve, preheat the oven and cook from frozen.