Chickpea & Spinach Fritters
with Lemon Raisin Basmati Rice & Spiced Cilantro Yogurt Sauce
- Milk
- Wheat
- Eggs
It’s hard NOT to love any ingredient when it’s fritter-fied, aka covered in batter and cooked until perfectly golden. This version, inspired by the most delicious Indian flavors, stars chickpeas, which we mash, then coat in a light tempura batter with curry and garam masala spices, spinach, and aromatics. They’re shallow-fried pancake-style until crispy, then paired with some of our favorite cuisine accompaniments: fluffy lemony raisin basmati rice and spiced cilantro yogurt sauce. 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
1 teaspoon
Garam Masala
1 unit
Chickpeas
1 unit
Onion
2 tablespoon
Sour Cream
2.5 ounce
Spinach
1 unit
Lemon
1 tablespoon
Curry Powder
2 tablespoon
Yogurt
(Contains: Milk)
1 clove
Garlic
82 g
Tempura Batter Mix
(Contains: Milk, Wheat, Eggs)
¼ ounce
Cilantro
1 ounce
Golden Raisins
1 thumb
Ginger
½ cup
Basmati Rice
Not included in your delivery
3 teaspoon (tsp)
Salt
2 tablespoon (tbsp)
Butter
(Contains: Milk)
teaspoon (tsp)
Black Pepper
2 teaspoon (tsp)
Cooking Oil
1 teaspoon (tsp)
Sugar
Nutrition Values
Utensils
Cooking Steps
• Wash and dry all produce. • Zest and quarter lemon. Finely chop cilantro. Halve, peel, and finely dice onion. Peel and mince or grate garlic and ginger. Roughly chop spinach. Drain and rinse chickpeas. • In a small bowl, combine yogurt, sour cream, a squeeze of lemon juice, a pinch of garam masala (you’ll use more later), a pinch of cilantro, and lemon zest to taste. Add water 1 tsp at a time until mixture reaches a drizzling consistency. Season with salt and pepper.
• Melt 1 TBSP butter in a small pot over medium-high heat. (For 4 servings, melt 2 TBSP butter in a medium pot.) Add half the onion, half the garlic, half the ginger, and a big pinch of salt. Cook, stirring, until softened, 2-3 minutes. • Add rice and raisins; stir to coat. • Stir in ¾ cup water (1½ cups for 4) and another big pinch of salt. Bring to a boil, then cover and reduce to a low simmer. Cook until rice is tender, 15-18 minutes. • Keep covered off heat until ready to serve.
• Meanwhile, heat a drizzle of oil in a large, preferably heavy-bottomed, pan over medium-high heat. Add spinach, remaining onion, remaining garlic, and remaining ginger. Cook until slightly softened, 2-3 minutes. • Add curry powder, remaining garam masala, and a pinch of salt; cook until fragrant, 30 seconds. • Turn off heat; remove from pan. Wash out pan.
• Place chickpeas in a large bowl. Mash with a potato masher or fork until almost smooth. (TIP: It’s OK if there are still some larger pieces.) Stir in spinach and aromatics, tempura mix, remaining cilantro, ½ tsp sugar (1 tsp for 4 servings), and 1⁄3 cup water (2⁄3 cup for 4) until thoroughly combined. Season with salt (we used ¾ tsp) and pepper. (For 4, use 1½ tsp salt.) TIP: Batter should be thick but not dry. Add more water 1 TBSP at a time as needed.
• Heat a drizzle of oil in pan used for aromatics over medium-high heat. Once pan is hot, carefully add ¼-cup scoops of chickpea batter, gently pressing to flatten. Cook until golden brown and crisp, 3-4 minutes per side. TIP: You may need to work in batches, adding another drizzle of oil before each batch. • Transfer to a paper-towel-lined plate.
• Fluff rice with a fork; stir in 1 TBSP butter (2 TBSP for 4 servings) and remaining lemon zest to taste. Season with salt and pepper to taste. • Divide rice between plates and top with chickpea and spinach fritters. Drizzle with spiced cilantro yogurt sauce. Serve with remaining lemon wedges on the side.
Customer reviews
Review summary
Updated on Dec 2025- Flavor: Many loved the complex, Indian-inspired spices; some found it mild and suggested adding extra herbs for deeper flavor 🍲.
- Ease of prep: Several noted it was time-consuming to make, with lots of steps; consider allowing extra time for this recipe.
- Suggestions: Make fritters thinner and crispier; cook on lower heat longer. Consider adding more yogurt sauce or a fresh side.
- Leftovers: Some enjoyed leftovers, while others found fritters didn't reheat well; best eaten fresh.
- Rice: The lemon-raisin basmati rice was a surprise hit; many loved the sweet-savory combo.
Reviews from our home cooks
This is a fabulous vegetarian meal. It takes a little while to prepare, but is well worth the effort. The rice is a perfect meld of sweet (raisins) and spicy (ginger and garlic). The chickpea patties have a complex combination of zippy flavors - spinach, garlic, lemon, cilantro, garam masala, curry. REALLY delicious. Robust - we had leftovers. Couldn't finish.
One of the best recipes I have made, the fritters would make great vegetarian patties. Nice crispy outside, nice amount of spice, and the sauce is nice, creamy, and has a refreshing taste to balance the fried chickpea and spinach fritters. The rice was pretty good too.
Although it said this is medium cooking difficulty - this was one of the easiest recipes for me (and I'm a beginner cook)! Not only was this one fun to make - the fritters were DELICIOUS, and went so well with the raisin-infused rice. This meal would be perfect for breakfast as well. So far this is my favorite meal!!
This was amazing - the prep was very quick and the chickpea fritters were really flavorful and satisfying. Thank you. Please consider offering brown rice.
A great mix of spices and ingredients that were so flavorful. The crunchiness of the fritters was delicious. I had one fritter left over that I ate the next day for lunch. I just warmed it up in the microwave and then put tzatziki sauce on it. Delicious.
Loved these. However, we always peel the chickpeas which is not in the instructions but makes a creamier result with some time tradeoff. The pop of golden raisin in the rice was a very nice touch. Oh! And the instructions should be changed to require a non stick pan otherwise these things just fall apart with the lack of excessive oil.
The ginger rice is amazing. I would ask that you include 'drain chick peas' in the cooking instructions. It made for pancake-like fritters. The flavor was still phenomenal. I think the middle eastern inspired recipes have been my favorite meals to cook.
First time having anything with chickpeas and I'm quite impressed by this flavor! I enjoy the pairing with the rice, fritters, and crema. I was surprised by the carb count, though! The fritters took a bit to get used to cooking properly.
Tasty but my "fritters" all fell apart - they turned into chickpea and spinach crumbles...
Recipe needs detailed guidance on how to get fritters to be crispy. What kind of oil? How to tell when the pan is hot enough... any tested tips and tricks would be helpful. I like the raisins in the rice... it makes a great contrast to the curry and garam masala.
