Chickpea Crepes with Grilled Curry Chicken and Mango Salsa

Chickpea Crepes with Mango Salsa for dinner. That’s a perfect dinner for me. The biggest change is obviously the addition of grilled chicken marinated in a curry yogurt sauce – I felt like I needed some more bulk to make this a stand-alone meal – but I also swapped out some of the flavors for a more Indian profile (cumin seeds instead of sesame seeds in the crepes, mint and basil instead of cilantro in the salsa), played with the consistency of the crepes to make them more pliable, and added a bunch of sweet red pepper to the salsa for even more color and freshness. The resulting meal is bursting with flavor, and just the kind of thing I need to get me excited about eating fresh vegetables.

Chickpea Crepes with Grilled Curry Chicken and Mango Salsa

Serves 4.

For the chicken:

• 1 c. plain Greek yogurt
• 2 TBS olive oil
• 2 TBS curry powder
• 4 cloves garlic, peeled and crushed
• 1 tsp sea salt
• 4 medium boneless skinless chicken breasts

For the crepes:

• 2 c. chickpea flour
• 2 TBS whole cumin seeds
• 2 tsp ground turmeric
• 2 tsp sea salt
• 2 1/2 to 3 c. water
• 1 large egg
• vegetable oil for frying

For the mango salsa:

• 1 large ripe mango, peeled, pitted, and diced into 1/2 inch cubes
• 1 red bell pepper, cored and diced into 1/2 inch pieces
• 1 small cucumber, peeled, seeded, and diced into 1/2 inch cubes
• 1/3 c. very finely chopped red onion (from about 1/4 of a large onion)
• 1 jalapeno, seeded and finely minced
• juice from 1-2 fresh limes
• 1/2 tsp sea salt
• small handful of mint leaves, sliced into chiffonade
• small handful of basil leaves, sliced into chiffonade

1. To make the chicken: Mix the yogurt, olive oil, curry powder, crushed garlic, and 1 tsp of salt together in a large bowl until evenly combine. Add the chicken breasts and rub the curry marinade all over them to fully coat. Cover the bowl and refrigerate for at least 2 hours, and up to overnight.
2. To make the crepes: Whisk together the chickpea flour, cumin seeds, turmeric, and salt. Add the water 1/2 cup at a time, whisking until as smooth as possible between batches. Resulting batter should be runny but not watery. Add the egg and whisk to blend with the batter. Cover the batter bowl and let rest for at least 30 minutes, and ideally 1 hour.
3. To make the salsa: Mix together all salsa ingredients in a medium bowl. Taste and adjust seasoning (lime juice, salt, jalapeno, and herbs) to your taste.
4. When you are ready to eat: Fire up your grill and preheat. Grill the chicken for 6-8 minutes on each side, until cooked all the way through with no pink left in the middle (grilling time may vary significantly depending on the temperature of your grill and  the thickness of your chicken – always check that they are cooked in the middle before serving!). Set cooked chicken aside.
5. Heat 2 tsp of vegetable oil over medium heat in a large frying pan. Once hot, add half a cup of the crepe batter and quickly swirl the pan to allow the batter to run into a large circle. Cook crepes for 30-60 seconds on each side, until golden brown and bubbly, then flip. Stack cooked crepes on a serving platter. Slice cooked chicken and serve over the warm crepes alongside the mango salsa. Serve as soon as possible after cooking, although leftover crepes can be wrapped in tinfoil and stored in the fridge if necessary.