FALAFEL MADE EASY

I recall that I promised you more recipes from the amazing Women's Weekly 'World Table' cookbook that I recently fell in lust with. Below is a recipe for scrumptious falafels, a middle eastern dish. The recipe makes around 9 falafels. I was able to eat 2 in the time that my boyfriend ate 7. And then he had the balls to ask if there were any more! So my advice to you is: double the recipe if you have a hungry friend/family member/boyfriend/etc eating dinner with you!

I took it upon myself to make this recipe a little more healthy. Instead of deep frying the falafels in vegetable oil, I cooked them in a frying pan with a tablespoon of vegetable oil until light brown and then placed them in the oven for 10-15 minutes. My way is a little more time consuming, but less oil is never a bad thing!

Ingredients 

• 400g chickpeas, drained and rinsed
• 1 medium brown onion (150g), chopped coarsely 
• 2 cloves garlic, quartered
• 1/2 cup coarsely chopped parsley 
• 2 teaspoons ground cumin
• 2 teaspoons ground coriander
• 1 teaspoon bicarbonate of soda (baking soda)
• 2 tablespoons plain flour 
• 1 teaspoon salt 
• vegetable oil

Cooking 

1. Combine chickpeas, onion, garlic, parsley and spices in a large bowl. Blend or process mixture in 2 batches, until almost smooth, then return mixture to large bowl. 

2. Add soda, flour and salt to chickpea mixture and mix to combine. Stand for 30 minutes. 

3. Roll level tablespoons of mixture into balls and stand for 10 minutes. As you can see from the photos the balls I made were bigger than tablespoons. Its your choice how big your balls want to be (and yes I realise how that last sentence sounded!). 

4. My cooking method: place 1 tablespoon of vegetable oil into frying pan. Cook falafel balls until light brown, for 5 minutes or so. Then transfer falafels to an oven tray with baking paper. Cook in the oven for 10-15 minutes or until the falafels are solid. Women's Weekly cooking method: deep fry falafels in hot oil, in batches, until golden brown. Drain on absorbent paper. 

Serve as a side to a main or with a hearty salad. 

x E