Chickpea Flour Omelette Recipe – The Art of Vegan Eggs

I first had a vegan chickpea flour omelette in Thailand on our Chiang Mai retreat. I forgot to get the chickpea flour omelette recipe then, and honestly it got lost in the back of my mind for several years. Recently it was brought back to my attention by my friend and sous-chef Selena in Costa Rica when we were talking about options for making vegan eggs. We mixed some up and served them on our Costa Rica retreat. They were a real hit, as we put our own special flair into them. Carnivores and vegetarians both like them, and they are great for people with gluten free diets, low carb diets, really anyone.

What is chickpea flour and why is it great for vegan eggs?

Chickpea flour is simply ground up chickpeas also known as garbanzo beans. They are a great protein source for vegetarians (or anyone).  According to Healthline, 1 cup of cooked chickpeas offers:

• Calories: 269
• Protein: 14.5 grams
• Fat: 4 grams
• Carbs: 45 grams
• Fiber: 12.5 grams
• Manganese: 74% of the Daily Value (DV)
• Folate (vitamin B9): 71% of the DV
• Copper: 64% of the DV
• Iron: 26% of the DV
• Zinc: 23% of the DV
• Phosphorus: 22% of the DV
• Magnesium: 19% of the DV
• Thiamine: 16% of the DV
• Vitamin B6: 13% of the DV
• Selenium: 11% of the DV
• Potassium: 10% of the DV

Black salt – The key to making your vegan eggs taste like the real thing

One of the flavor components of eggs that is the most unique is the presence of sulphur. Black salt contains sulphur too! Black salt is harvested in India and it’s pretty cheap to buy online. I think for $10 you can get several years’ supply of black salt. It doesn’t take much to get the flavor you want. If black salt is too strong for you or you don’t like it, substitute it 1 to 1 for pink Himalayan salt. I like to add a little extra at the end, that way you get a little sulphur smell when you bring the vegan omelette towards your lips!

Turmeric – The key to making your chickpea omelette look like the real thing

Turmeric contains curcumin, which is a powerful anti-inflammatory medicine. I try to sneak turmeric in to anything I can, from my smoothies, to my rice, to my sautéed veggies. It’s also a great way to make things yellow. Most of my vegan egg recipes contain turmeric. I also always add black pepper with turmeric because the combination of pepper with turmeric potentiates the anti-inflamatory properties of the turmeric.

Chickpea Flour Omelette recipe:

Makes 4 omelettes

1/2 cup + 1/8 cup chickpea flour

1 tsp Tapioca starch or other starch (arrowroot, corn starch, cassava starch…)

1 TB nutritional yeast (for B vitamins and slight cheesy flavor. It makes it more rich and egg like)

1/2 tsp black salt, finely ground

1/2 tsp turmeric

1/4 tsp black pepper

1/4 tsp garlic powder

2/3 cup plant-based milk

1 TB extra virgin olive oil

Avocado oil to fry (or other high heat oil)

Black salt to garnish (the salt looses its sulphur flavor when cooked, so adding more on top brings back the egginess)

Add ins:

Spinach

Roasted tomatoes

Sautéed mushrooms (I prefer oyster mushrooms)

The method:

Roast your tomatoes in a pan with some salt and black pepper. The same with the mushrooms. Keep the spinach raw for now. Pick all of the leaves off of the spinach if there are big stems. Place the spinach and cooked tomatoes and mushrooms on the side for later.

Mix all of the dry ingredients in a bowl, then whisk in the plant-based milk and oil. Mix it for a few minutes, getting out all of the lumps. Add a little water if it’s too thick, a little flour if it’s too thin. All chickpea flour is a little different. The right texture is like a French crepe, or a thin pancake batter. Let it sit for 5 minutes then check the consistency again, adjusting as needed. It will get thicker as the flour absorbs the water.

Start heating up a stainless steal or cast iron pan, getting it hot then reducing to medium high. You want it hot enough to be non-stick, but not too hot where it burns your oil. Ladle 1/4 cup of the chickpea omelette batter in to the pan, pouring it into a nice flat circle.

Next, gently place your spinach leaves onto the batter, arranging them on top in a pretty pattern. Put four or five onto each omelette, depending on the size of the spinach leaves.

Leave it to cook until you can see the edges start to brown. Don’t try to move it too early as it will stick. Normally it will almost pop off of the pan. At this point you can flip the omelette onto the spinach side, letting it cook for another minute there. Once it starts to brown it’s probably cooked, I just like to take a peak inside the first one to make sure it’s done. This first one is always a good time to try a small piece as well. Feel free to add salt to your liking, or put a little more on top.

Stack them on a separate room-temperature pan as you cook them.

To plate:

Place the chickpea flour omelette on a plate with the spinach side facing up. Add a few of the roasted tomatoes and mushrooms on top and serve. Also goes great with my cashew cheese recipe in my Plants on Plates Cookbook.

Any extra chickpea flour omelettes can be put in the refrigerator and saved for a few days. I take the extras with me when I go hiking. They also work great as a gluten free wrap substitute as they are quite pliable and bendy.