Mmmmmoroccan Chickpea Patties

These Moroccan Chickpea Patties are from Vive Le Vegan! by Dreena Burton. I adore chickpeas, but I am not a fan of anything with an aniseed type flavour, so the fact that there was fennel in them was putting me off. However, after reading the rave reviews on Don't Get Mad, Get Vegan's blog and Leslie's blog I decided to go for it...and I am so glad I did!! These are very, very tasty and the fennel flavour is very subtle and not in any way overpowering.
The only change I made to the recipe was to use green pepper instead of red. I did add a little extra water when the mixture was in the food processor as the recipe suggested I may, but next time I probably won’t as I found the patties a little too soft.
I served these with Ginger Dipping Sauce (also from Vive Le Vegan!), spicy potato wedges, a little “salad” of rocket (arugula), tomato, cucumber and some tomato ketchup for the potato wedges. Wee G and I both loved the dipping sauce and ended up pouring it over the patties and salad...yummy!!

I think this is actually the first time I have ever bought and cooked with fennel as I have always been put off by the aniseed type flavour. On cutting fennel the smell is quite strong, but the aroma and flavour after cooking is much more delicate. From what I remember it is usually sold in UK supermarkets without the stalks and leaves which is a shame as they make it very pretty. Apparently it was used in traditional recipes for absinthe and was one of the nine sacred herbs used in Medieval Times to fight disease. It’s also thought to ward off evil spirits so, lots of reasons to eat more of it!