Pitaroudia Recipe (Rhodes Chickpea and Tomato Fritters)

Pitaroudia belong to Rhodes and barely leave it. Ask for them on the mainland and you will mostly get blank looks, which is a shame, because they are among the best fritters in Greek cooking.

On Rhodes itself they are everywhere. The Greek-American cookbook writer Diane Kochilas calls them by far the national dish of Rhodes. When the travel site Elxis asked the owner of a family taverna in Apollona, a village about an hour from Rhodes Old Town, which dishes best represent the island, pitaroudia were on his list next to stuffed vine leaves and kapama.

They are made from chickpeas crushed rather than pureed, which gives a coarse nutty texture quite unlike a smooth falafel. Grated tomato goes in with them, along with onion and a lot of mint, and the mixture is bound with just enough flour to hold. Rhodian cooks shape them into flat patties rather than the little balls you see in other parts of Greece.

The Dodecanese sit close to the Anatolian coast, and the cooking shows it. Cumin goes into pitaroudia, which is unusual in mainland Greek cooking.

Key preparation steps

1. Soak the chickpeas overnight but do not cook them.
2. Crush coarsely, keeping texture rather than making a paste.
3. Mix with grated tomato, onion, mint and enough flour to bind.
4. Rest the mixture, then deep fry until deep golden.

What is pitaroudia?

Pitaroudia (Πιταρούδια, said pee-tah-ROO-thee-ah) are fried patties of crushed chickpeas, grated tomato, onion and fresh mint, seasoned with cumin. They are eaten as a meze on Rhodes and the neighboring Dodecanese islands, usually hot from the pan with lemon. Greece's national tourism site notes they can also be served warm or at room temperature.

In English the dish is usually called Rhodes chickpea fritters. Pitaroudia is the plural, and a single fritter is a pitaroudi. The Greek letter δ is sometimes written as dh, so you will also see the name spelled pitaroudhia on menus and in older cookbooks.

There is no meat, egg or dairy in them, so they are vegan as written. That is why they turn up on Rhodian tables during Lent and the other fasting periods, when Greek Orthodox cooks give up animal products. You will find more dishes like them in our Greek Lent recipes.

Pitaroudia on Rhodes and in the Dodecanese

Rhodes is the largest of the Dodecanese, the group of islands in the southeast Aegean that lies just off the southwest coast of Turkey. Diane Kochilas found pitaroudia all over the island in different versions, and every Rhodian cook seems to have their own way with the mix.

Dried beans and chickpeas run all through Rhodian cooking. On Nisyros, the small volcanic island northwest of Rhodes, Kochilas found that the local fritters were more often made with yellow split peas, the same pulse used for fava.

If you are cooking your way around the islands, our Rhodes and Dodecanese recipes also include melekouni, the sesame and honey sweet handed out at Rhodian weddings, and makarounes, the hand-rolled pasta of Karpathos.

Raw soaked chickpeas or boiled ones

There are two ways to make pitaroudia, and the difference is in the chickpeas. Many Rhodian recipes, including the one on Greece's official tourism site and the one Diane Kochilas gives, soak the chickpeas overnight and then boil them until tender before crushing them. That makes a softer, mealier fritter.

Yiayia's recipe soaks the chickpeas overnight until they have roughly doubled and softened enough to crush, but never boils them. Raw soaked chickpeas cook through during the frying, in the same way falafel does, and hold a firm nutty texture. They also carry less water, so the mixture needs less flour to bind.

Cooked chickpeas, whether you boil them at home or open a can, bring a lot of water into the mix. Used in this recipe they turn to mush and need so much flour that the result is stodgy. If you prefer the boiled style, drain the chickpeas well, let them steam dry for a few minutes before crushing, and expect to add a little more flour.

Crush, do not blend

Pulse in a food processor a few times, or work them through a meat grinder, until you have a coarse rubble with recognizable pieces. Stop well before it becomes a paste.

Texture is the entire appeal of pitaroudia. A smooth mixture gives you a Greek falafel, which is fine but is not this dish.

Grate the tomatoes as for dakos and strapatsada, discarding the skins, and drain the pulp briefly so the mixture is not too wet.

Resting the mixture

Thirty minutes in the fridge, minimum. The flour hydrates, the chickpeas absorb the tomato juice, and the mixture firms up enough to shape.

If after resting it still will not hold a shape, add flour a tablespoon at a time, but be sparing. Too much flour is the main cause of a heavy fritter.

Shape into small flattened rounds rather than balls, which cook through more evenly.

Frying and serving

Deep or shallow fry at around 340°F (170°C) until deep golden and cooked through, about three minutes a side. They need to be properly cooked in the middle since the chickpeas start raw, so keep the heat moderate rather than fierce. A deep-fry or candy thermometer takes the guesswork out of it.

Test one from the first batch before committing the rest. The center should be firm and nutty, not chalky.

Serve hot with lemon, and with tzatziki or a yogurt dip if you are not fasting. Diane Kochilas serves hers with a tahini sauce, which suits the cumin and keeps the plate vegan. On Rhodes they appear alongside ouzo as a matter of course, as part of a spread of mezedes.

Pitaroudia, falafel and other Greek fritters

Pitaroudia get compared to falafel more than to anything else, and the two are close in method. Both can start from raw soaked chickpeas and both are fried. Falafel is ground fine and spiced, while pitaroudia are left coarse and carry tomato and mint.

Within Greece every region has its own fritter, and most of them are a way of stretching one vegetable or pulse into a meze. You can find all of them in our fried Greek recipes.

Making pitaroudia ahead

You can make the mixture a few hours ahead and keep it covered in the fridge. It firms up as it sits, so you may not need any extra flour.

Pitaroudia are at their best within an hour of frying. To warm up leftovers, spread them on a baking sheet and heat them in a 375°F (190°C) oven for about 10 minutes, which brings back most of the crunch. The microwave makes them soft.

What matters in this dish