falafel

We ate these for dinner the other night. If you're not familiar with them, falafel is a hearty Middle Eastern snack-food made primarily from chickpeas (garbanzo beans). The ingredients blended together form a paste, which is rolled into balls and traditionally deep-fried. I didn't deep fry mine - I just misted a pan with olive oil and browned them. This recipe serves 2-3.

Ingredients:

1 can chickpeas, drained (reserve the liquid)

A drizzle of olive oil

Half an onion

2 fat cloves of garlic, peeled

Salt and pepper

1 tsp chilli flakes or chopped chilli (optional)

1 tsp turmeric

2 tbsp chopped fresh parsley

2 tbsp chopped fresh coriander (cilantro)

1 tablespoon flour

Squeeze lemon juice

Method:

1. Pop everything into the food processor until a thick paste is formed. If it seems too dry and crumbly, add some liquid from the drained chickpeas until you get a good consistency.

2. Form the paste into little patties. If frying in a shallow pan with just a little oil, flatten them slightly.

3. Fry the patties in a little oil in batches, and keep warm in the oven.

4. Serve with hoummus, tzatziki, salad, couscous, warm pitta...anything you like really!

Home-made tzatziki. This is chopped cucumber, mixed with chopped fresh mint, low-fat natural yoghurt, black pepper, sea salt and lemon juice.

Shop-bought hoummus. :)

Falafel balls in a wholewheat pitta with all of the above, plus lots of green salad and scallions.