Recently I have fallen in love with Mediterranean food! My top favorites are the chicken shawarma, hummus and falafel. So I thought about making falafel at home which is extremely simple to make and tastes so good! I hate deep frying, so I decided to bake the falafels and I loved the texture of baking that I am never going to deep fry!
Serves : 2 (around 10 falafels)
Approximate Total Cost : $2.00
Approximate Cost per person :$1.00
Ingredients
Raw dried chickpeas - 1 cup (don't use canned chickpeas which has a lot of salt content and doesn't taste fresh. Its totally worth cooking them from scratch. I never buy canned beans.)
Garlic - 3 cloves
Ginger - a small piece (peeled)
Cilantro - 1/4 of a bunch
Onion - 1/2 chopped
Olive oil - 2 tablespoons
Salt - to taste
Spices
Cumin powder - 1 teaspoon
Fennel powder - 1 teaspoon
Chilli powder - 1 teaspoon
Method
1. Soak the chickpeas overnight.
2. Then wash and drain them. Blend the chickpeas with all the other ingredients in a blender. (It is not required to cook the chickpeas at this stage as they will cook in the oven while baking later)
3. Blend until it firms a coarse paste.
4. Now take 2 tablespoons of the blended mixture and form a small patty. In the top side of the patty spray some oil. I used a canola oil spray.
5. Line a baking sheet with parchment paper and place the cooling rack on top of it.
6. Place the patty on the cooling rack with the oil sprayed side facing down. (In such a way that the oil sprayed side is touching the cooling rack. This will prevent the falafel from sticking onto the rack and also helps in forming a brown crust)
7. Now spray some oil on the other side of the patty. This oil helps in forming a brown crispy outer crust. A little spray of oil is definitely way better than deep frying.
8. Make the falafel patties with the remaining mixture as above.
9. If you don't have a cooling rack you can still directly bake it in a baking sheet. But ensure that you flip the falafels after 15 minutes of baking so that you will get the crust on both sides. Using a cooling rack will help in cooking the falafels evenly from all sides and doesnot get soggy.
10. Preheat oven to 425F. Bake the falafels for 40 mins. Watch out on the timing as my oven bakes very slow, so sometimes it might be ready in 25 mins or so if your oven bakes faster. After the falafels are baked it looks as shown in the figure below.
11. Serve as an appetizer or in salads or in sandwiches.
Serves : 2 (around 10 falafels)
Approximate Total Cost : $2.00
Approximate Cost per person :$1.00
Ingredients
Raw dried chickpeas - 1 cup (don't use canned chickpeas which has a lot of salt content and doesn't taste fresh. Its totally worth cooking them from scratch. I never buy canned beans.)
Garlic - 3 cloves
Ginger - a small piece (peeled)
Cilantro - 1/4 of a bunch
Onion - 1/2 chopped
Olive oil - 2 tablespoons
Salt - to taste
Spices
Cumin powder - 1 teaspoon
Fennel powder - 1 teaspoon
Chilli powder - 1 teaspoon
Method
1. Soak the chickpeas overnight.
2. Then wash and drain them. Blend the chickpeas with all the other ingredients in a blender. (It is not required to cook the chickpeas at this stage as they will cook in the oven while baking later)
3. Blend until it firms a coarse paste.
4. Now take 2 tablespoons of the blended mixture and form a small patty. In the top side of the patty spray some oil. I used a canola oil spray.
5. Line a baking sheet with parchment paper and place the cooling rack on top of it.
6. Place the patty on the cooling rack with the oil sprayed side facing down. (In such a way that the oil sprayed side is touching the cooling rack. This will prevent the falafel from sticking onto the rack and also helps in forming a brown crust)
7. Now spray some oil on the other side of the patty. This oil helps in forming a brown crispy outer crust. A little spray of oil is definitely way better than deep frying.
8. Make the falafel patties with the remaining mixture as above.
9. If you don't have a cooling rack you can still directly bake it in a baking sheet. But ensure that you flip the falafels after 15 minutes of baking so that you will get the crust on both sides. Using a cooling rack will help in cooking the falafels evenly from all sides and doesnot get soggy.
10. Preheat oven to 425F. Bake the falafels for 40 mins. Watch out on the timing as my oven bakes very slow, so sometimes it might be ready in 25 mins or so if your oven bakes faster. After the falafels are baked it looks as shown in the figure below.
11. Serve as an appetizer or in salads or in sandwiches.
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