Sicilian snack: panelle (plus recipe)
In Palermo, you can get them on every street corner: panelle. These savoury, deep-fried slices made from chickpea flour are delicious in a white sesame bun, but taste just as good straight from the hand. The recipe requires only a few ingredients and is super simple.
Anyone who has been to Palermo knows that the Mercato Vucciria is the place to go for the very best food. Six days a week, this historic market provides the setting for macho market traders who, like no one else, have mastered the art of the abbanniata – loudly touting their own goods. So it’s no surprise that vucciria means something like ‘chaos and clamour’ in the local dialect.
Centuries-old classic
If you’ve had enough of the hustle and bustle, it’s a good idea to turn into one of the side streets. Here too, you’ll find street vendors and small delis selling traditional street snacks. Pani câ mèusa, for example: a bread roll filled with calf’s spleen fried in lard. Is that a bit too hardcore for you? Then opt for a pane e panelle: a centuries-old classic from Palermo’s cucina povera.
Sicilian chips
The fried slices of panelle are made from a dough based on chickpea flour, water, salt, garlic and parsley. Or, well, more or less. Every vendor has a different recipe, which they claim is the ‘best’. The panelle are served in a white sesame bun, to which you can add lemon juice, pepper and, optionally, fresh parsley yourself. People from Palermo eat them for breakfast, lunch and dinner. Or simply as a snack from a paper bag. A sort of Sicilian chips, if you like.
Also craving pane e panelle but not planning to travel to Palermo anytime soon? No problem. The recipe for this Sicilian street snack is so simple that you’ll have it on the table at home in no time:
How to make Sicilian panelle
1. Put the chickpea flour in a pan and gradually stir in the water with a wooden spoon. Add the salt and garlic and place the pan over medium heat. Keep stirring until the dough comes away from the bottom. Turn off the heat and stir the parsley into the dough. Set a little aside for the garnish.
2. Line an oven tray with baking paper. Use a spatula to spread the dough over the tray in a layer half a centimetre thick. Leave the dough to firm up for at least half an hour, then cut it into rectangles measuring 5×10 centimetres.
3. Heat the sunflower oil and deep-fry the dough slices for about three minutes, until golden brown. Drain in a colander lined with kitchen paper. Serve the panelle in a white sesame bun – 2 slices per bun – and garnish with parsley, freshly ground pepper and a wedge of lemon.
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