Chickpea gnocchi - delicious protein-rich pasta 👌

A delicious alternative to potato gnocchi. Lighter, healthier and rich in protein... What's not to like? 😋 If using dry chickpeas you should start with about 135g dry chickpeas to make the 350g cooked, drained chickpeas.

Great

% Daily Values based on a 2,000 calorie diet

Step 1

Soak the dry chickpeas in water overnight, then cook them in slightly salted water for 15-20 minutes, and drain them well. You can alternatively use tinned chickpeas, rinsed and drained. I personally prefer the dry ones.

Step 2

Add the cooked drained chickpeas into a food processor, add the olive oil, water, salt, pepper and MSG, and blitz them untill you have a smooth (hummus like, but drier) paste.

Step 3

Put the paste in a bowl add the flour and mix it in well with a spatula until all flour is integrated and you have a dough. I used the pan in which I cooked the chickpeas, instead of a bowl, to minimise washing.

Step 4

Flour a working surface and drop the dough. Knead it until it's homogeneous and there are no dry bits of flour inside it.

Step 5

Cut a bit of dough, roll it on the flour surface to make a snake about 1cm in diameter, then cut it in pillows about 1.5cm long.

Step 6

Traditionally, gnocchi are ridged to hold onto the sauce better. You can use a floured gnocchi ridger board if you have one, although the back of a fork also works well. If using a fork, you have to wipe it clean every few gnocchi so they don't stick to it. You can also skip the ridging altogether and cook the little pillows.

Step 7

Ridge the gnocchi onto a large floured board or tray. You can skip this step if not ridging the gnocchi.

Step 8

Cook the gnocchi in salted boiling water, pushing them carefully directly off the board or tray into the water. When the float to the surface (1-2 minutes) they're done. Fish them out with a slotted spoon or small sieve right as they come afloat to prevent them overcooking.

Step 9

Serve them with your favourite sauce. In this case I used tomato and sausage sauce, but they are also great in a butter, sage and pasta cooking water emulsion, on creamy cheese sauce, or pretty much with any pasta sauce you like. There are few pasta sauce choices on my profile. Enjoy!