Brotas Chickpea Azevias: An Alentejo Christmas Sweet

In the Brotas chickpea azevias, the pastry is rolled thin around a soft chickpea, lemon and cinnamon filling. After frying, the half-moons are coated with sugar and cinnamon. The Carta Gastronómica do Alentejo identifies this recipe as a Christmas sweet.

A pastry shared with felhoses

The Brotas recipe, from the municipality of Mora, refers to the pastry for the felhoses on the previous page of the Carta. This version combines the two sets of instructions: scalding the flour with olive oil and cooking the chickpea purée in a syrup before filling. Both were recorded in an interview with Aurora de Jesus Teles de Matos.

Estimated yield: 32 to 36 azevias, depending on thickness and size
Total time: about 4 hours, plus 8 to 12 hours for soaking the chickpeas

Ingredients for 32 to 36 azevias

Pastry:

• 500 g plain wheat flour, plus up to 30 g for rolling
• 4 medium eggs
• 125 ml of Azeite Cartuxa Virgem Extra 2026
• 80 ml orange juice (approximately 1 large orange)
• 22 ml aguardente
• 2 g salt and 2 g ground cinnamon
• 5 g fennel seeds and 200 ml water for the infusion; use only as much as needed, about 80 to 150 ml

Filling:

• 350 g dried chickpeas
• 270 g sugar
• 40 ml water for the syrup
• Zest of 1 lemon
• 1 cinnamon stick and 2 g ground cinnamon

Frying and finishing:

• Enough olive oil or cooking oil to fill the pan to a depth of about 5 cm (up to 1.5 l, depending on the pan)
• 50 g sugar and 3 g ground cinnamon for sprinkling

Method

1. Soak and peel the chickpeas. Cover the 350 g of chickpeas with plenty of cold water for 8 to 12 hours. Drain. Rub the soaked chickpeas in clean water and remove the skins that come loose, as indicated in the original recipe.
2. Cook and mash. Put the chickpeas in a saucepan and cover well with fresh water. Simmer gently for about 60 to 90 minutes, until they mash easily. Drain well and pass through a food mill. The purée should be thick, with no free water.
3. Make the filling. Put the 270 g sugar, 40 ml water and lemon zest over low heat until the sugar dissolves; let it boil without stirring until the syrup falls in a thick stream with a small drop at the end. Add the purée, cinnamon stick and 2 g ground cinnamon. Stir over low heat for about 10 to 15 minutes, until the spoon leaves a path across the bottom of the pan that takes a while to close. Remove the cinnamon stick, spread the filling in a dish and leave to cool completely.
4. Prepare the infusion. Boil 200 ml of water with 5 g of fennel seeds for 5 minutes. Strain and leave to cool until lukewarm.
5. Make the dough. Put the 500 g flour in a heatproof bowl. Heat the 125 ml olive oil without letting it smoke and pour it over the flour, stirring to scald it. Leave to cool until lukewarm. Add the 4 eggs, 80 ml orange juice, 22 ml aguardente, salt and 2 g cinnamon. Add 80 ml of the infusion and knead; if it is dry, add more infusion, one tablespoon at a time, until pliable without being too sticky. Knead for about 8 minutes, cover and leave to rest for 30 minutes.
6. Shape. Divide the dough into four portions and keep the ones you are not using covered. Roll each portion out to about 2 mm thick and cut out 12 to 13 cm discs. Place about 1 heaped tablespoon of cold filling, approximately 28 to 30 g, on one side of each disc, leaving at least 1.5 cm clear around the edge. Moisten the edge lightly, fold into a half-moon, press out the air and seal firmly. Trim with a pastry wheel or seal with a fork. If you have a little dough or filling left over, make smaller azevias; the yield is approximate.
7. Fry. Heat the olive oil or cooking oil in a deep pan to about 170 °C: a small piece of dough should rise with bubbles without browning immediately. Fry 3 to 4 azevias at a time, for about 2 to 3 minutes on each side, until golden. Drain on kitchen paper. Mix the 50 g sugar with 3 g cinnamon and sprinkle over the azevias while they are still warm.

Tips to stop them opening during frying

The filling should be cold and thick. Leave a clean, wide margin on each disc; never force in more filling if the half-moon does not close easily. Thin, well-sealed pastry fries better than an azevia that is too full.

To serve and store

Try the Espumante Cartuxa Bruto Branco 2019 well chilled to contrast with the sweetness and fried pastry. Once cool, store the azevias in a sealed container in a cool place for 1 to 2 days. You can make the filling the day before and keep it covered in the refrigerator.

More sweets in the series

For an oven-baked sweet instead of fried pastry, see our Vila Viçosa cericá.

Source

Carta Gastronómica do Alentejo (2013), pp. 243–244: “Felhoses” (pastry) and “Azevias de Grão” (filling and assembly), Brotas, Mora. Interview with Aurora de Jesus Teles de Matos, by Adelaide Martins, in 2012.

Recipe collected in the Alentejo, adapted by Herdade do Estacal for the “À Mesa com o Alentejo” blog. We reduced the felhoses pastry by approximately half; we reduced the filling to about one third of the original to balance it with this amount of pastry. We specified measurements for the orange, fennel infusion and cinnamon, as well as the times, thickness and frying temperature. The source allows either olive oil or cooking oil for frying. The yield is a practical estimate, not a number fixed in the original collection.

Illustrative image generated for this article.