Since going vegan, I have realized I cannot live in a world without chickpeas! These little legumes are packed with so much nutritive value and are super versatile! Today we’re gonna make some delicious vegan falafels that you just might add to your weekly meal rotation.
Falafels are a traditional Middle Eastern snack that are quite similar to a well-known snack on the Kenyan coast, bhajia za kunde. These amazingly tasty balls of goodness are super easy to make and can be baked or fried depending on your preference and resources. To make falafels, you need a food processor to chop up the ingredients into really tiny pieces and mix them well. You can use canned chickpeas as well as dry chickpeas. You can find other tips below on the recipe notes section for some things to keep in mind before making these. Are you ready? Let’s get to it!
Ingredients
1 ⅓ cup dry chickpeas (soak them overnight) or 2 cans chickpeas
1 medium red onion
2 cloves garlic
1 bunch mint leaves
1 bunch cilantro (or parsley if you prefer that)
1 tsp cumin seeds
1 tsp paprika
1 tsp ground coriander
Salt to taste
5 tbsp chickpea/gram flour (if you have a weak food processor)
Oil to fry (optional as you may want to bake them)
Method
Drain & rinse the soaked chickpeas.
Roughly chop up the onion, garlic, cilantro and mint. The food processor will chop them finely for you so don’t worry!
Add all the ingredients (apart from the oil and chickpea/gram flour) into the food processor and blend until the mixture is finely chopped, mixed well and can form a small ball when held together. If your mixture can’t hold together and your food processor can’t blend it any further, transfer the mixture to a bowl and add the chickpea/gram flour one tbsp at a time until the mixture can hold together well.
Shape them into lime-sized balls, flat disks or patties, depending on how you plan on having them. Heat the oil at this point or preheat your oven at 180°C for 10 minutes.
Next, deep fry them on medium-high heat until golden brown and crunchy or bake them at 180°C for 30 minutes.
Serve them with guacamole, tzatziki, hummus or any relish or sauce that you prefer.
Wasn’t that easy? When you make these, make sure to snap some images and tag us on our socials! We’d love to see it! Check out the recipe notes below for some things to keep in mind as you make these. Enjoy!
Recipe Notes:
DO NOT use cooked chickpeas. However, you can use canned chickpeas and skip the soaking.
Use a food processor NOT a blender or smoothie maker because we need the mixture to be dry. Using a blender or smoothie maker will require you to add some liquid for the chickpeas to break down.
If you don’t have chickpea/gram flour, you can add all purpose flour or try making the balls and freezing them before cooking so that they hold their shape.
You can have falafels as they are for a snack, as a patty for burgers, in pita bread (or any other flatbread) for gyros, or in a pita bread sandwich.
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