Falafels are one of the quickest and simplest and yummiest recipes to make. I was a little short on time so ended up using the Organ gluten free falafel mix (which has very simple and clean ingredients), but you can make them out of chickpea flour blended with some herbs and spices (such as dried parsley and powdered turmeric) and some salt as optional flavouring. This was simply mixed in with water, allowed to sit for about 15 mins to absorb the water and then cooked in dollops in very hot sunflower oil.
You can also make falafels from dried fava beans soaked in water overnight and rinsed and then pulsed in a blender - this makes for the real moist falafels, however this is a version that is more labour intensive and requires pre-planning. In case of using the soaked beans, you would not need to add water, just add spices and garlic and herbs to the beans before pulsing in the blender.
Ingredients:
1 packet Organ Falafel mix OR 200g chickpea flower (plus spices of your choice)
approximately 170mls Water
Sunflower oil
Method:
Mix the chickpea flour with the spices (unless using the packet mix) and then mix this in with the water and let sit for 15 minutes stirring occasionally to ensure it is evenly soaking the water. Adding too much water makes the dough into a paste and not adding enough water can make the falafels taste dry – so take the time to measure just the right amount of water to your mix. Take a pot and fill it with sunflower oil to about 5-6cm depth. Heat well and always take care with hot oil. Spoon out 4 cm thick dollops of the chickpea dough and drop them into the hot oil allowing them to sizzle and cook for a few minutes. Pull out with tongs or a strainer spoon when slightly browned but not overcooked. Leave to dry out on a tray with paper towels underneath to soak up the excess oil drops. Enjoy as a finger food with some homemade hummus or add to a salad wrap for a vegetarian meal.
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