Shrimply Delicious Chickpea Pancakes

In March, my roommate and I threw our first big dinner party. I'd always wanted to throw a dinner party, and we may have gone a little overboard, seeing as there were twenty people in our large-but-not-really-that-large Brooklyn apartment. It was everything I thought adult life would be; lovely people having witty conversation, delicious food, and of course copious amounts of alcohol.  I fretted for at least two weeks over what kind of food we should serve. For someone who reluctantly acknowledges herself a perfectionist when it comes to these things (hem hem), there is nothing simultaneously more exciting and more nerve-wracking than a dinner party. I think my unhealthy obsession with them stems from my wish to have everyone in my life that I love meet everyone else in my life that I love. To feed them food they will like, to see them meet other people who are just as amazing as they are and just enjoy being, to drink with them...Dinner parties are my version of hedonism. 

When it came time to choose a menu for these twenty lovelies, my roommate wisely encouraged something that would be easy to make in large batches, like lasagna. Instead we went with something only slightly more involved--daal and rice, and chickpea pancakes with cucumber raita. Being hella neurotic (or maybe just a good planner if I'm not being hard on myself), I did a test run of the chickpea pancakes since I'd never made them before, using raw chickpea flour. They were unspeakably delicious, and were inspired by a Mark Bittman recipe (naturally). I had a feeling they would be a dinner party success.

Of course after the test run of dreams, I created a nightmare for myself when I realized 10 minutes into the dinner party that I had bought an insane amount of the wrong kind of chickpea flour. It was toasted, not raw, and so absorbed less of the water and made a flatter, less crispy pancake....fortunately, I was assured they were still pretty damn good. This is me setting things right...and in the process creating a fairly delicious Dara dish. 

Ring ring ring ring ring ring ring, Banana Muffins!

Do you know the game two truths and a lie? It's a game that is often played as an icebreaker--but I think it is way more fun to play with people you know really well. The short version is that each person has to say three statements about themselves, two true and one false. The other participants have to guess which statement is the lie. Let's play this game D-Dishes style.

1. I did my spring cleaning months ago, and this recipe is just something I forgot to post until today. 
2. These muffins are adapted from a recipe I once found on the website of a geek magician who calls himself Zoltan the Adequate.
3. These banana muffins are out-of-control delicious.

If you guessed #1, congratulations! I did my spring cleaning yesterday...on June 11th. While I would normally be embarrassed about sharing this fact, today I don't mind because a) my apartment looks amazing and b) while cleaning out my freezer, I discovered these insanely large, sure-to-be-deliciously-mushy-once-they-thawed bananas. When life gives you bad bananas, do not make lemonade (gross!)--make banana muffins! Before we get into the recipe, I am sure you are just dying to know about Zoltan. I was in charge of bringing guacamole to my 8th grade end of year party at our English teacher's house, and for some reason this recipe was one of the first to pop up. It resides on the website of Andy Blau, aka the Geek Magician, aka Zoltan the Adequate. I made the guacamole and it was damn delicious. Magical, even. So I figured, why not try this guy's banana muffin recipe? Let me tell you, that was definitely the best party of 8th grade--maybe even of my whole life. There were so many people in the hot tub that it broke (sorry Ms. Powers).  As soon as people clambered out of the hot tub, the previously cloudless sky turned a nasty shade of grey-green and a massive downpour had around 90 8th graders tracking mud and pool water into the house (sorry again!) I remember playing a moderately successful game of Taboo, and maybe even a round or two of two truths and a lie. So trust me when I say if you want to party, make these muffins.