Algerian chickpea pie called Garantita has other names such as Karantika, Calentica or Calentita. It may have other names, depends on the region.
The origin of this dish is from Spain, when the Spanish empire invaded the west of Algeria (Oran) in the early 16th century.
Garantita has a flan texture and it is usually sold by street vendors over a good French baguette with cumin and Harissa, that Maghrebi hot chili pepper paste. This is a very cheap dish in Algeria but yet very filling and yummy.
Served with the Moroccan bread ( Batbout), in this picture.
Sprinkle with cumin to your liking, drizzle with olive oil and serve with a French baguette or any other type of bread and Harissa or your favorite hot sauce.
Ingredients
- 2 cups chickpea flour
- 2 eggs
- 1/3 cup vegetable oil
- 4 cups water
- 2 tsp salt
- ¼ tsp black pepper
- 1 tbsp baking powder
- 1 tbsp cumin powder and more for sprinkling
- Harissa for serving or your favorite hot sauce
Instructions
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In a large bowl, whisk the chickpea flour,baking powder, eggs, oil, salt, pepper, cumin and water. Whisk for about 5 minutes or until smooth. The batter is fluid just like the crepes batter.
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Pour in a slightly buttered pan, round or rectangular. I have used a 9×7 inch Pyrex pan in this recipe.
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Bake in a 400 °F preheated oven for about 30 minutes. I placed the pie under the broiler for the last 10 minutes until golden brown.
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Sprinkle with cumin to your liking, drizzle with olive oil and serve hot with a French baguette or any other type of bread and Harissa or your favorite hot sauce.
This came out quite liquidy in the middle for me. All other recipes involving chickpea flour that I’ve found have a step after mixing where you let the batter sit for ½ hour before baking. Is it possible this step was left out?
Hi, thanks for visiting my website. Most Algerian recipes for Garantita don’t call for letting the batter rest. Garantita has to be soft. If it’s too liquidy, may be you need to cook it a little more but usually if it is just a bit jiggly in the center, you just let it set before serving it.
Yes, the mix has to sit in order to set and firm up, allowing the flour to absorb the liquid.
Never heard this dish before but the simple ingredients wants me to try this..Thank you for sharing delicious recipe
This garantita is GUARANTEED a delicious recipe to try – no doubts! I haven’t tried this one yet so very excited about the recipe.
Oh, I love anything with harissa, so this sounds delicious! I’m also a huge fan of anything with a custard-like texture similar to flan, so this sounds amazing.
I’ve never heard of this dish before, but it sounds delcious – especially with harissa on top!
This chickpea pie sounds really good. Can’t wait to try it. My hubby is Sicilian and I’m sure he’ll like this a lot! In Sicily, they make a slightly similar ‘street food’ with chickpea flour which they often eat with bread !
I am definitely keeping this in my arsenal! I love that the origins are Spanish and it is made with garbanzo beans/chickpeas.
This is intriguing and sounds delicious. I always love reading about recipes from all over to see what I am missing out of eating.
I’ve never heard of this dish, but it sounds delicious and very intriguing. I love that it’s a savory flan with some spice! Can’t wait to try.
I’ve never had this before, but I love chickpeas (and anything I can eat with harissa), so I’m sold!
I’ve never had garanita but I love the texture of flan so I’m sure I will enjoy this. I’m always excited to try new foods that I’ve never had before.
This sounds so easy to make, yet very flavorful and delicious. I love Harissa and would love to use it more, so this Algerian chickpea pie is just perfect.