To me, potato gnocchi are the greatest comfort food of all, and one of the things I was saddest to let go of when I tried to curb my carb addiction. Then I began musing – is it possible to make gnocchi from pulses?
The answer is yes. And while purists may roll their eyes, it has the added benefit of being the quickest and easiest gnocchi I’ve ever made. It’s two tins of white beans, drained and rinsed, then blitzed with a stick blender. That’s something you can’t do with potatoes, unless you want to use the resulting purée to hold up wallpaper. If I’m craving really fluffy gnocchi I’ll work the purée through a strainer or a mouli. This helps get out all errant lumps and incorporate as much air as possible. I’ll acknowledge, this isn’t completely carb-free, but it’s not the double excesses of potato and flour that you’ll find in the original. The extra protein in the beans will make them a little sturdier than potato gnocchi, but when baked they possess a very pleasing contrast of external crunch to inside squish.