The batter is basically the same chickpea flour used for socca — just boiled into a thick paste first, then sliced and fried instead of baked flat.
Panisse starts as a thick chickpea-flour polenta, poured into molds to set, then sliced into batons or rounds and deep-fried until crisp outside and soft within. Street vendors in Marseille and Nice serve it hot in paper cornets with salt.