Curried Chickpea Fritters
with Spinach Rice Pilaf, Pickled Raisins & Creamy Garlic Sauce
- Eggs
- Milk
- Wheat
- Tree Nuts
It’s hard NOT to love any ingredient when it’s fritter-fied (aka fried until perfectly golden). This version, inspired by traditional Indian flavors, stars chickpeas, which are mashed, then mixed with a light tempura batter flavored with curry spices and aromatics. They’re shallow-fried pancake-style until crispy, then paired with some of our favorite accompaniments: fluffy rice pilaf with spinach, pickled raisins (yes, you read that right!) and a drizzle of creamy garlic sauce on top. Now comes the most challenging part of the meal: stacking a little bit of everything on your fork at once to create the perfect bite!
Ingredients
13.4 ounce
Chickpeas
82 g
Tempura Mix
(Contains: Eggs, Milk, Wheat)
1 unit
Red Onion
1 tablespoon
Curry Powder
2 unit
Scallions
½ cup
Basmati Rice
2 tablespoon
Low-Fat Yogurt
(Contains: Milk)
4 tablespoon
Sour Cream
(Contains: Milk)
1 unit
Lemon
1 clove
Garlic
1 ounce
Golden Raisins
2.5 ounce
Spinach
½ ounce
Cashews
(Contains: Tree Nuts)
1 unit
Veggie Stock Concentrate
Not included in your delivery
Cooking Oil
1 tablespoon
Butter
(Contains: Milk)
Salt
Pepper
Nutrition Values
Utensils
Cooking Steps
• Wash and dry produce. • Halve, peel, and finely dice onion until you have 1 cup; mince remaining onion until you have 2 TBSP and set aside in a medium bowl for step 4. (For 4 servings, finely dice whole onion; mince diced onion until you have 4 TBSP.) Trim and thinly slice scallions, separating whites from greens. Roughly chop spinach. Quarter lemon. Peel and mince garlic. Drain and rinse chickpeas.
• Melt 1 TBSP butter in a small pot over medium-high heat (use 2 TBSP butter and a medium pot for 4 servings). Add diced onion, scallion whites, cashews, and a pinch of salt. Cook, stirring, 1 minute. • Stir in rice, stock concentrate, ¾ cup water (1½ cups for 4), and a big pinch of salt. Bring to a boil, then cover and reduce heat to low. Cook until rice is tender, 15-18 minutes. Turn off heat. • Add spinach to pot with rice. Cover until wilted, about 2 minutes; stir to combine.
• While rice cooks, place raisins in a small bowl (roughly chop any large raisins if necessary). Add juice from one lemon wedge (two wedges for 4 servings), a pinch of salt, and enough hot water to just cover. Set aside to pickle. • In a separate small bowl, combine sour cream, yogurt, a squeeze of lemon juice, and a pinch of garlic to taste. Add water 1 tsp at a time until mixture reaches a drizzling consistency. Season with salt and pepper.
• Add chickpeas to bowl with minced onion. Mash chickpeas with a potato masher or fork until almost smooth. (It’s OK if there are still some larger pieces.) • Stir in tempura mix, scallion greens, remaining garlic, 1⁄3 cup water (2⁄3 cup for 4 servings), and 2 tsp curry powder (4 tsp for 4; be sure to measure) until evenly combined. Season with salt (we used ¾ tsp; 1½ tsp for 4), and pepper. TIP: Batter should be thick but not dry—add more water 1 TBSP at a time if necessary.
• Heat a 1⁄3-inch layer of oil in a large, heavy-bottomed pan over medium-high heat. Once oil is hot enough that a drop of batter sizzles when added to the pan, add ¼-cup scoops of batter. (TIP: You may need to work in batches. Carefully drop your batter close to the oil to avoid splatter.) Cook until golden brown and crisp, 3-4 minutes per side. • Using a slotted spoon, transfer fritters to a paper-towel-lined plate. Season with a pinch of salt. Turn off heat.
• Divide rice pilaf between plates and top with chickpea fritters. Drizzle with creamy garlic sauce and as many pickled raisins (draining first) as you like. Serve with any remaining lemon wedges on the side.
Customer reviews
Review summary
Updated on Feb 2026- Flavor: Many loved the unique blend of flavors, though some found it bland and wanted more seasoning or spice.
- Ease of prep: While delicious, several noted it was time-consuming to prepare, especially frying the fritters.
- Suggestions: Consider adding more curry powder or spices to boost flavor; try making smaller, thinner fritters for better texture.
- Leftovers: Fritters reheat well in an air fryer; some found the dish even tastier the next day.
- Texture: Some enjoyed the crispy fritters, while others found them dry or mushy; rice texture was generally well-received.
Reviews from our home cooks
The curried chickpea fritters were a bit dry but tasted great with the garlic lemon cream sauce. The spinach rice pilaf was wonderful. Liked the addition of pickled raisins and cashews.
Loved the rice pilaf and the pickled raisins. The creamy sauce had a heavy lemon flavor, needed something else. The chickpea fritters were not that flavorful. Needed more spices, but not spicy hot.
This recipe has a few more steps! The rice was delicious. It was the first time to ever have chickpea fritters and they were great.
The chickpea fritters were delicious! It's such a simple, great idea! I might do this on my own outside of the recipe just as snacks to have with coffee.
This meal is one of our favorites. The chickpea fritters were so light and flavorful and perfect with the rice and sauce and raisins.
The Fritters were really good I plan to make them again this weekend with some chickpeas I already have in the cabinet. The rice pilaf wasn't that good. I love the idea of adding spinach to rice at the end and the contrast of the sweetness from the raisins but it didn't live up to fritters. The fritters alone get 4 stars though!
Wow! What a winner. The chickpea fritters were moist unlike some falafel that tends to be dry. Fun recipe to cook with a friend.
Great flavors with the curry and the chickpeas and loved the crispy crust on the fritters. Rice was good but perhaps try it with orzo? The pasta might work better with the earthy spinach and be less crumbly.
I enjoyed the flavor, but this was really difficult to make. The chickpea batter turned out really thin so my first few fritters were runny and didn't cook. I added flour, and the next few absorbed all the oil. Finally I cooked some without oil like a pancake because I had used so much oil already. The rice burned before it was done cooking, then I couldn't get the spinach to wilt without over cooking it.
I'm not a fan of frying in that much oil (I used less than suggested). In general, it would be helpful if "a drizzle of oil" could be quantified in each recipe; it could be anywhere from a teaspoon to several tablespoons. But the fritters were tasty and delicately spiced - more curry powder could have been added. The raisins could just be mixed in with the rice.
