Cookbook | Ingredients | Recipes

| Cuisine of Gibraltar

Panissa – there is also an original Italian one. What is referred to as Panissa in Italy nowadays is more akin to the Gibraltarian 'Calentita'. My grandmother always used to make Panissas on the same day she made Minestra as a light second course.

Ingredients

• 500g chickpea flour
• 2 litres water
• Olive oil for frying
• Salt
• Lemon juice
• Minced parsley (optional)

Procedure

1. Stir the chick pea flour into 2 litres of lightly salted water over a moderate flame, and stir the mixture steadily in the same direction with a wooden spoon until you obtain a soft, lump-free paste.
2. When the paste begins to pull away from the sides of the pot, turn it out into oiled wooden moulds, or spread it out about ¼ inch high (½ cm) on your work surface (dust the surface with parsley before you spread if you're including it).
3. Alternatively pour into saucers and cut into wedges when set.
4. Once the paste has cooled, cut it into 1 by 3-inch (3x7 cm) rectangles and fry them in hot oil.