Chickpea Fritters & Calendula Salad

Our garden is in full bloom right now. As the weather begins to heat up the flowers are working extra hard to produce seeds so don’t feel bad about picking the beautiful blooms; this will encourage them to produce even more flowers! Our first batch of strawberries are ripening amongst their white flowers, the raspberry canes are reaching up towards the sun, and the lemon tree is blessing us with more lemons than we know what to do with. This truly is the best time of year for foraging and gardening!

Calendula isn’t exactly a wild plant but it does self-seed prolifically and can be found in most home and community gardens and should definitely be something you choose to plant if you don’t have any near you. The dried flowers in infused oils are wonderful for treating itchy skin, burns, and minor cuts and the leaves and petals are slightly peppery bitter taste which is great in salads, not to mention the petals provides an amazing splash of colour sprinkled on top of any dish you can think of. Calendula shines in this fresh and satisfying salad with chickpea turmeric fritters and a ranch dressing. Enjoy my fellow foragers!

Chickpea Fritters & Calendula Salad

Ingredients: Serves 4

Turmeric Chickpea Fritters:

2 tablespoons ground flax seeds

5 tablespoons water

4 tablespoons olive oil

8 garlic cloves, sliced

1 cup breadcrumbs

1/2 cup fresh parsley, chopped

6 tablespoons nutritional yeast

2 tablespoons sesame seeds

3 teaspoons raw sugar

2 teaspoons turmeric

3 teaspoons ground cumin

1 teaspoon salt

1 teaspoon black pepper

1 lemon, juiced

2 tins chickpeas, drained and rinsed

Olive oil, for frying

Ranch Dressing:

1 cup homemade vegan mayonnaise

1/4 cup soy milk

2 teaspoons apple cider vinegar

1/2 lemon, juiced

1 tablespoon dried parsley

3/4 teaspoon dried dill

1/2 teaspoon onion powder

1/2 teaspoon garlic powder

1/4 teaspoon salt

1/4 teaspoon pepper

Salad:

1 large bag of salad, or the equivalent of home grown greens

1 cup calendula leaves, chopped

1 beetroot, grated

2 carrots, grated

1 cup lentil sprouts

1 red onion, diced

Calendula petals

Directions:

1. Preheat the oven to 190 degrees Celsius and line a tray with baking paper.
2. In a small bowl mix together the ground flax seeds and water and set aside for 5 minutes to make a flax “egg”. In a small pan over a medium heat add the 4 tablespoons of olive oil and saute the garlic for a few minutes.
3. To a food processor add the flax egg, garlic and oil, breadcrumbs, parsley, nutritional yeast, sesame seeds, sugar, turmeric, cumin, salt, pepper, and lemon juice. Blend. Add chickpeas and blend again until roughly chopped together. Heat a large frying pan over medium heat and add olive oil. Take tablespoons of the chickpea mixture and round and flatten into fritters. Lightly fry on both sides until golden and place on tray. Bake fritters for 30 minutes.
4. In a small bowl combine all the ranch dressing ingredients and set aside.
5. In a large salad bowl toss together the salad greens, calendula leaves, beetroot, carrot, onion, and sprouts.
6. Serve chickpea fritters on top of the calendula salad drizzled with ranch dressing and sprinkled with fresh calendula petals.

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