Persian Chickpea and Chicken Dumplings
- Total Time
- 1 hour
- Rating
- Comments
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Ingredients
- 4medium onions, peeled and quartered
- ½pound skinless, boneless chicken breast
- 8ounces (about 2¼ cups) chickpea flour
- 1tablespoon olive oil
- 1teaspoon salt
- 1teaspoon freshly ground black pepper, or to taste
- ¼teaspoon turmeric
- ½teaspoon cardamom, or to taste
- ½teaspoon cumin
- 4quarts chicken soup
- Handful each of finely chopped basil
- Handful each of finely chopped parsley
- Handful each of finely chopped mint
- Handful each of finely chopped cilantro
Nutritional analysis per serving (8 servings)
356 calories; 10 grams fat; 2 grams saturated fat; 0 grams trans fat; 5 grams monounsaturated fat; 2 grams polyunsaturated fat; 39 grams carbohydrates; 4 grams dietary fiber; 13 grams sugars; 26 grams protein; 1012 milligrams sodium
Note: The information shown is Edamam’s estimate based on available ingredients and preparation. It should not be considered a substitute for a professional nutritionist’s advice.
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Preparation
- Step 1
Using a food processor with a steel blade, pulse onions until finely chopped. Transfer to a bowl and set aside. Pulse chicken until it has the consistency of ground meat.
- Step 2
Combine onions and chickpea flour in a bowl and mix well with hands. Add chicken, oil, salt, pepper, turmeric, cardamom and cumin. Mix well, adding a bit of water if needed, to make a dough about the consistency of meatballs. Refrigerate until well-chilled, about 3 hours.
- Step 3
Dip hands in cold water and divide mixture into 16 portions. Shape into balls about 2 inches in diameter. Bring soup to boil. Gently add dumplings one at a time and simmer, covered, for 40 minutes. Meanwhile, in a small bowl, toss together basil, parsley, mint and cilantro.
- Step 4
Ladle soup and dumplings into serving bowls, and sprinkle with mixed herbs.
Private Notes
Comments
I have made these several times, from a recipe that referred to them as an Iranian Jewish dish. The Persian Jewish community goes back over 3,000 years, although only a small remnant remains in Iran. So unless you were invited to dine in a Jewish home in Iran, you would be more likely to encounter these in Israel, where the great majority of Persian Jews now reside.
Gram flour is the English name for besan, and can be find as besan in some supermarkets with large international foods sections, some Indian groceries and online Indian food sellers, and on Amazon. A note for diabetics and others interested in lower glycemic foods. Besan is ground from a different, smaller variety of chick pea, which is very low glycemic, lower than the chickpea/garbanzo bean common in the United States and Europe. Bob's Red Mill grinds the higher glycemic chick peas.
This is a Persian Jewish dish known as ghondi- we use ground chicken in the ghondi along with the chickpea flour. It is a traditional Shabbat dish.
There's a Persian cookbook, Food of Life. It's really good. I am pretty sure this is a kofta recipe, and is included in that book and is a recipe that I have had at a friend's house when i was young. But their version was made with: ground beef, dry yellow split peas(yellow lentils?), and dry rice, with herbs and spices, made into giant meatballs and simmered in a clear broth until the peas and rice were tender and some of the meatballs fell apart into the broth, mixing with everything. If this is the same dish, then yes: the cookbook has the recipe and it is called kofta.
Terrible idea for a recipe. Don't make with chickpea flour!! Instead either make chicken meatballs or follow a more traditional recipe that uses canned chickpeas.
I ordered bezan from Amazon. Here's an article about the difference. https://www.veganricha.com/difference-between-besan-and-chickpea-flour/#:~:text=use which flour.-,Besan or gram flour is a flour of chana dal,sometimes mess up a recipe.