Falafel

Falafel comes in many forms and flavours and differs from household to household with some families safeguarding there secret recipes. Within Palestine itself one of the most popular street-food is indeed falafel. It can be deep fried, shallow fried or, like ours, oven baked for a healthier alternative.

(recipe and image produced by the ‘Welcome to Palestine’ team)

Ingredients

Serves 6 – Time 45 Minutes

500g Pre-prepared Chickpeas
3 Large Garlic Cloves
1 Medium Handful of Parsley
1 Medium Handful of Coriander
1 Small White Onion
1 Medium Lemon
2 Tsp Baking Powder
1 Tsp Ground Cumin
2 Tbsp Olive Oil

Instructions

Pre-heat the oven to 180 degrees celsius.

Add the chickpeas to a food processor with the roughly chopped onion, parsley, coriander, garlic, cumin, baking powder, lemon juice, salt and pepper.

Blend the mixture until it is well minced but you want to avoid over-processing the mixture or it won’t hold together.

Grease a baking sheet on a tray with 1 tbsp of olive oil and shape the mixture into 4cm balls. Brush the tops with the remaining oil. You should make about 25 in total.

Put the tray in the oven and bake for 15 minutes. Flip the balls and bake for a further 10 minutes until they are golden brown.

Serve the falafel in pitta bread with a yogurt sauce and salad.