Carrot And Chickpea Fritters With Halloumi
These carrot and chickpea fritters are an easy food processor recipe with a Turkish Cypriot vibe. Halloumi adds a deliciously salty, cheesy hit, while fresh coriander brings brightness, though parsley works just as well. Tuck them into flatbreads with salad and sauce for a light lunch, or serve with fried potatoes, greens and more sauce for a hearty main.
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Carrots are the cheap and cheerful workhorse of the veg world. They’re easy to get hold of and are more or less in season all year round. They’re a regular item in our fortnightly veg box and I’m always looking for new ways to use them. This is my latest.
Dive Right In
- Why You’ll Want To Make Carrot And Chickpea Fritters
- Cheesy Chickpea Carrot Fritters
- Ingredients, Additions And Substitutions
- How To Make Carrot And Chickpea Fritters
- Other Fritter Recipes You Might Like
- Keep In Touch
- Pin It
- The Recipe
Why You’ll Want To Make Carrot And Chickpea Fritters
Everyone loves a fritter. These ones are a little different in that they’re inspired by Turkish Cypriot flavours and also contain cheese. They’re simple to make and they serve as easy meals for both lunch and dinner.
- Adaptable – Use coriander leaves for a fresh, aromatic lift, or swap them for parsley if you prefer a milder herb. Likewise, swap the more expensive halloumi for a more everyday cheese such as cheddar. And if you don’t have a food processor, it’s not difficult to chop and grate the ingredients by hand.
- Budget-Friendly – Made with affordable ingredients like carrots and chickpeas, it’s a cost-effective way to create a satisfying meal for just you or the whole family.
- Deliciously Savoury – The combination of halloumi, fresh herbs and spices delivers a rich, savoury and salty flavour with a hint of warmth.
- Easy and Convenient – The food processor does most of the work, making these fritters quick to prepare with minimal effort.
- Great for Meal Prep – Make a batch ahead of time. They reheat well, making them perfect for quick lunches or dinners.
- Inspired by Turkish Cypriot Flavours – Brings a touch of Mediterranean-inspired vitality to your table.
- Protein Packed – Not only are these fritters high in vitamins, minerals and fibre, but they’re particularly rich in protein too. This is because they contain chickpeas, cheese and egg.
- Versatile Serving Options – Enjoy them stuffed into flatbreads with salad and sauce for a light lunch or pair them with fried potatoes and greens for a heartier dinner.
Cheesy Chickpea Carrot Fritters
It’s unusual for me to add cheese to fritters, but I do like to ring the changes. These cheesy carrot and chickpea fritters are packed with vitamins, minerals and fibre, but also protein. What’s more they’re ever so tasty.
Because I’ve used a Cypriot cheese, I’ve flavoured the fritters with cumin and pul biber (also known as Aleppo chilli or Turkish red pepper flakes). This together with green herbs gives them a Turkish Cypriot twist to remind us of sunnier climes.
They’re super easy to make as you pretty much just bung everything in the food processor then form the mix into patties and shallow fry. But don’t worry if you don’t have a food processor, they’re actually quite simple to prepare by hand.
Once cooked, the fritters hold their shape. This means they stand up well to making in advance. Simply reheat in a pan, air fryer or oven or use them as lunch box fillers.
Serve with flatbreads, salad and some sort of green sauce or yoghurt sauce. We also enjoy them with fried potatoes and greens. I made a green sauce with coriander leaves, mint, garlic, lime juice, capers and olive oil. It’s delicious and pairs well with the fritters.
Ingredients, Additions And Substitutions
Most of the ingredients in this recipe for carrot and chickpea fritters are staples and don’t really require comment. However, I’ve highlighted a few below that are worth mentioning.
Cheese
Halloumi works really well in these fritters, but if you can get hold of kefalotyri cheese, use that instead. It’s a harder cheese than halloumi, but is also used for cooking in both Greece and Cyprus. Like halloumi, it’s made from sheep and goat’s cheese. It’s the one I used in this recipe.
To keep costs down, you could swap the Cypriot cheese for cheddar or similar instead.
Gram Flour
Gram flour is the flour made from ground chickpeas. Indeed it’s sometimes called chickpea flour. It’s much higher in protein than other flours and is a common ingredient in both Middle Eastern and Indian cuisines.
If you can’t find it in supermarkets, you will in a whole food or health food shop. If you’re lucky enough to live near an Asian or Middle Eastern shop, you’ll find it there too.
Herbs
I’ve used coriander leaves (cilantro) as the herby component in these carrot fritters. However, parsley or dill work well too, so go with what you like or have to hand.
Spices
Pul biber is a common ingredient used in Turkish cuisine. It’s a mild, but flavoursome chilli pepper with both fruity and smoky notes. It’s also known as Turkish red pepper flakes and Aleppo chilli flakes.
If you don’t have any, you can use smoked paprika instead.
Another commonly used spice throughout the Middle East, including Cyrus and Turkey is cumin. It’s probably my favourite spice, it’s certainly the one I use the most. Anyway, you’ll need cumin seeds for this recipe, though ground cumin is fine if that’s all you have.
If using ground cumin, use only ¾ of a teaspoon rather than the full teaspoon of cumin seeds. It’s quite a powerful spice.
How To Make Carrot And Chickpea Fritters
If you have a food processor, the mix for this carrot and chickpea fritter recipe takes no time at all to prepare. You can make it by hand, but it will take a bit longer as you’ll need to grate and chop the ingredients.
Please refer to the recipe card at the bottom of this post for full instructions, timings and quantities of ingredients used.
Step 1. Blitz Veg
Scrub the carrots, then top and tail them. There’s no need to peel the skin. Chop them into large chunks and place in the bowl of your food processor. Peel the onion and garlic and roughly chop them too. Add to the bowl then blitz until they’re finely chopped.
Step 2. Add Cheese
Break the cheese into rough chunks and add it to the carrot mix. Add the coriander leaves, including their stems then blitz again.
Step 3. Final Mix
Rinse and drain the chickpeas then add to the bowl along with the gram flour, salt and spices. Break in the egg and add the lemon or lime juice.
Pulse briefly until everything is just combined and the chickpeas have mostly broken up. It’s fine to have a few chunks in the mix though.
Non-Food Processor Method
Grate the onion, carrot, cheese and garlic, then add to a bowl. Roughly crush the chickpeas with a fork and add them to the bowl. Finely chop the coriander, then add to the bowl along with all remaining ingredients. Combine thoroughly, then form patties as below.
Step 4. Fry Fritters
You can do this part in one of two ways, whichever suits your cooking style. Either form the patties first, then fry them altogether or form one and fry it whilst you form the next one etc.
You’ll need a good non-stick frying pan for this recipe. A large one is great if you have one, but you’ll probably have to fry more than one batch anyway.
Heat the pan over a moderate heat, then add half of the oil.
Scoop up a heaped tablespoon of the fritter mixture and form it into a round patty about 1cm or less (third of an inch) in depth. The easiest way of doing this is in the palm of your hand.
Place the patty in the pan and fry until cooked through and golden. Flip it over and fry on the other side – about seven minutes in total. Whilst it’s frying form more patties and repeat the process until the pan is full.
As soon as one is cooked, transfer it to a plate. If eating straight away place the plate in a low oven to keep it warm, otherwise leave to cool.
Keep forming patties and frying them until you’ve used up all of the mixture.
Step 5. Serve Fritters
Eat whilst hot, either stuffed into pitta or other flatbreads along with salad and either a green sauce or yoghurt sauce. The fritters are also excellent served with fried potatoes or chips and broccoli or other cooked greens.
The fritters will keep in a covered container in the fridge for a couple of days. Reheat in an air fryer, oven or in a dry frying pan.
Cooked fritters freeze well too. Air fry or bake from frozen.
Other Fritter Recipes You Might Like
- falafel – the Egyptian way
- leftover veg fritters
- oca latkes
- smokey sweetcorn pepper fritters
- spiced courgette fritters
- wild garlic tofu patties
Keep in Touch
Thank you for visiting Tin and Thyme. If you make these carrot and chickpea fritters, I’d love to hear about it in the comments below. Do you have any recommendations or tips for using carrots?
Please rate the recipe. If you post pictures of your creations on social media, tag me @choclette8 so I can see them.
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If you’d like more carrot recipes, follow the link and you’ll find I have quite a lot of them. All delicious and nutritious, of course.
Choclette x
Carrot Chickpea Fritters. PIN IT.
Carrot And Chickpea Fritters With Halloumi
Equipment
- food processor (affiliate link) optional
Ingredients
- 250 g carrots topped and tailed
- 1 small onion
- 1 clove garlic
- 20 g coriander leaves (cilantro)
- 100 g halloumi or other Cypriot cooking cheese (I used kefalotyri cheese)
- 1 tsp cumin seeds
- 1 tsp Aleppo chilli flakes (pul biber) or smoked paprika
- ¼ tsp sea or rock salt
- 250 g cooked chickpeas from a 400g tin – drained and rinsed
- 50 g gram flour (chickpea flour)
- 1 medium egg
- 1 lemon or lime – juiced
- 2 tbsp sunflower oil or other neutral tasting oil
Instructions
- Roughly chop the carrots and onion into large chunks. Place them in a food processor along with the garlic and blitz until they’re finely chopped.250 g carrots, 1 small onion, 1 clove garlic
- Break up the cheese into rough chunks and add it to the carrots along with the coriander leaves, including stems and blitz again.20 g coriander leaves (cilantro), 100 g halloumi
- Add the chickpeas, gram flour, salt and spices and blitz roughly. It’s fine to have chunks of chickpeas in the mix.1 tsp cumin seeds, 1 tsp Aleppo chilli flakes (pul biber), ¼ tsp sea or rock salt, 250 g cooked chickpeas, 50 g gram flour (chickpea flour)
- Finally add the egg and lemon or lime juice and pulse briefly until just combined.1 medium egg, 1 lemon
- Heat a good non-stick large frying pan over a moderate heat. Add 1 tbsp of the oil.2 tbsp sunflower oil
- Scoop up a heaped tbsp of the mixture and form it into a round patty about 1cm or less (⅓ inch) in depth. Place it in the pan and fry for 3-4 minutes. Flip it over and fry on the other side for a further 3-4 minutes, by which time it should be cooked through. Whilst it's frying form more patties and fill up the pan.
- As soon as one is cooked, place it on a plate and keep warm in a low oven, if eating straight away. Otherwise leave to cool.
- Keep forming patties and frying them until you've used up all of the mixture. Add the other tbsp of oil, if and when needed.
- Eat whilst hot, either stuffed into pitta or other flatbreads along with salad and either a green sauce or yoghurt sauce.
Non-Food Processor Method
- Grate the onion, carrot, cheese and garlic, then add to a bowl. Roughly crush the chickpeas with a fork and add them to the bowl. Finely chop the coriander, then add to the bowl along with all remaining ingredients. Combine thoroughly, then form patties as above.
Notes
Nutrition Estimate
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Your fritters look absolutely delicious and so healthy. Who doesn’t love a fritter. Yes carrots are always available, but they are a vegetable I struggle to grow, thankfully they are very well priced. On my list to make, thankyou.
Thank you. We’ve never been particularly successful at growing carrots either – they’re not easy. It’s one of those veg I’m now happy to let the farmers get on with. Hope you enjoy the fritters.
they sound delicious. I love chickpeas and we eat them often.
sherry
Chickpeas are such a useful pulse. They’re just so versatile.