Kalinté — Tangier, Morocco

Kalinté is a baked chickpea flour flan, sold as a street snack in Tangier. A thin batter of chickpea flour, water, eggs and oil is poured into a large round pan and baked until the top browns and cracks slightly, giving a texture somewhere between a flan and a dense pancake. It is closely tied to Tangier's street food scene, where vendors cut it into diamond shapes fresh from the oven, tuck the pieces into bread with cumin and chili powder, or hand them over plain on a square of paper. It is known as calentita in Spanish and karane in Oujda, where a related version of the same batter is baked into a thicker flatbread. To prepare it, chickpea flour is whisked with water, eggs, oil and salt into a smooth, thin batter, which is left to rest for about an hour so the flour hydrates fully. It is then poured into a generously oiled round pan to a depth of about two centimeters and baked at a high temperature until the top is golden and set. It is cut into diamonds and served warm, dusted with cumin and chili. The name comes from the Spanish caliente, meaning hot, since it is eaten as soon as it comes out of the oven rather than left to cool. It arrived in northern Morocco with Andalusian, Spanish and Jewish communities, and both Tangier and nearby Tetouan claim it as part of their street food.