Chickpea Falafel

I love to eat falafel for lunch or as a light supper, perhaps followed by a bowl of soup. They have been a staple in the Middle Eastern diet for centuries and are either eaten on their own, as part of a mezze or tucked into pitta bread with salad, tomatoes and usually tahini or yoghurt sauce. 

If you want to go completely gluten free, then use gram flour rather than regular flour and stuff into corn wraps or gluten free pitta breads

Serves 2

Prep time – 10 minutes + 30 minutes in fridge/

Cooking time – 10 minutes

• 280g tinned chickpeas, drained
• juice of ½ a lemon
• 2 cloves of garlic peeled and chopped
• 1 tsp ground cumin
• 1 tsp ground coriander
• ½ tsp cayenne pepper
• 1 fresh green chilli, deseeded and finely chopped
• 1 dessertspoon tahini (optional)
• 1 tsp salt
• 50g plain or gram flour
• 1 tsp baking powder
• 2 tbsp fresh parsley, chopped
• 1 tbsp fresh mint, chopped
• rapeseed, groundnut or sunflower oil for frying

1. Mix together the chickpeas with the lemon juice, garlic, cumin, coriander, cayenne, fresh chilli, tahini and salt and puree with a food processor or hand-held blender.
2. Add the flour, the baking powder and the chopped herbs and mix together.
3. Roll the mixture into little balls the size of a walnut (about 3cm in diameter) and let them set in the fridge for 30 minutes.
4. Heat some oil in a non-stick frying pan to fry the falafel – you need quite a lot of oil, to cover the pan by ½cm in depth. When the oil is nice and hot, place the balls into the oil, push them gently down with a spoon to form little patties. Fry them gently for about 4 minutes on each side,so that they form a golden crust.You may need to do this in batches. Remove and place on a piece of kitchen paper to eliminate any excess oil.
5. Serve the falafel with the yoghurt or the tahini sauce, some lemon wedges and, if you like, a herby salad.