Feta, Cumin, Pea-Pica

Decorate the cakes with a ball skewer and serve them on a bamboo coupelle, the presentation gives a special touch to your theme party.

"Picar" means "to nibble" in Spanish, so "pica pica" means finger food. I just love the sound of it so I also add "pica" this word when I named this feta, cumin & pea mini cake.

Fresh green pea is available in spring and the beginning of summer. It is sweet, juicy and tender, is one of the most delicious food on earth! Although the frozen pea is a totally different animal, you won't make a long face if you add some creative juice to the recipe :)

In this cake I use frozen pea, combine with feta cheese, cumin and sesame seeds, the flavor turns out incredible! To garnish with orange/lemon zests to create a stronger color-contrast, these cake are screaming, "eat me!"

The ball skewers and the coupelles are supplied by restaurantware

Recipe of Feta, Cumin and Pea-Pica

(yield 20 mini cakes, each 3cm in diameter, enough for 4 persons as finger food)

*I'm inspired by the recipe of Polpette di piselli con feta, which is published in Grandi fritti all'italiana, il meglio di Sale & Pepe, passioni 9*

• 300 g frozen pea of high quality
• 2 Tbps of feta cheese, crumble up
• 1 1/2 Tbps flour
• 1/2 tsp cumin seeds, crush them up finely
• some sesame seeds
• zest from tangerine/orange/lemon

1. Bring a pot of water to boil, simmer the peas for 2 minutes. Drain well.
2. Puree the pea, stir in feta, a good pinch of cumin and the flour. The mixture is paste-like.
3. Pour some sesame seeds on a large plate. Use 2 spoons to help (and moist your hand if necessary) to drop some pea mixture on the plate, and shape it to a small ball.
4. Heat oil (3 - 4 cm deep) to medium hot, fry the pea cakes. In the first 2 minutes the cakes start floating, continue to fry them for a couple minutes more, or until before they turn brown.
5. Use a slot spoon to remove the cakes, and place them on kitchen paper towel to absorb the excess oil. Sprinkle some orange/lemon/tangerine zest over to finish.

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