# Vegan Spanish potato tortilla

![tortilla](https://github.com/shautvast/notes/blob/main/Vegan%20gluten-free%20/spanish_tortilla/tortilla1.jpg)

This was a idea that had been cooking in the back of my mind for the past weeks. It's really simple, make a decent Spanish tortilla like they have
for breakfast or lunch over there, but replacing the eggs with chickpea flower. Now chickpeas make an excellent egg replacer and are commonly
added to commercial vegan egg mixes, but those often contain more starches or the taste is off. I appreciate the subtle natural chickpea flavour. 

The very first try was actually pretty good. Both in structure as in flavour and mouthfeel. If I'm really critical
I would say that it's slightly heavier than the egg version, but it hardly mattered and I ended up with a really great tortilla tasting mostly like fried potato. 

Serves 1 if you're really hungry or more for a small snack.

**Ingredients:**
* one medium sized potato
* 3/4 / 190 ml cup of plain water
* half cup/ 80 g of chickpea flower
* 1/4 teaspoon guar gum
* 2 teaspoons of (good extra virgin) oliveoil for the egg mixture
* optional: 1 tiny pinch of Kala Namak salt
* decent dash of olive oil for baking
* salt and pepper to taste.

Now the Kala Namak, if you can get it will add a nice egginess to the flavour. It's a brown salt from India and the taste is quite astonishing 
because it has a really strong egg aroma because of the sulphur that is in there. It can be overpowering, so use with care!

Mix the chickpea flower, water, olive oil and guar gum, both salts, and a dash of pepper. Get rid of the lumps with a whisk and let it rest. 
Make sure to get a consistency that is not not too thick. You should end up with a light pancake batter. 
It will thicken after a couple of minutes, so add a little water if needed. 

While the batter is resting, peel the potato (or just wash it if you like), and slice it really thin, not more than a milimeter. Some folks cook 
the potato but to me that is like wasting the point of the whole tortilla. So put them on a clean tea towel to remove some of the starches and
fry them in batches in a skillet with enough olive oil until they are nicely browned. Fire on medium high. Put the fried potatoes on the tea towel or 
just on a plate, if you don't care about the excess oil.

By not stacking them and frying them in batches you will get the most consistent browning and lots of flavour!

For frying up the final tortilla, use the right size pan. I used a 8 inch / 20 cm non stick one, because that's what I have. My whish list does
contain a cast iron skillet of that size, because they're so much better for the planet.

Preheat the pan with a litlle oil and start stacking half of the potato slices. Then enough batter to cover them, the rest of the potatoes and
a final layer of batter, again just enough to cover the slices. If some of the batter remains, leave it out.

Now slowly fry the tortilla, for about five minutes. The top should be setting very slowly. You want it to be set just enough to flip it. Putting
the pan under a hot grill will help.
Now, once you feel secure, carefully slide the tortilla on a plate (cooked side down). Put the pan upside down over it and quickly flip it.
Let it fry until down. The tortilla should feel quite firm.

Serve on a plate with more pepper and salt to taste.

![tortilla slice](https://github.com/shautvast/notes/blob/main/Vegan%20gluten-free%20/spanish_tortilla/tortilla2.jpg)

Less batter
Baking powder
Lid 

