The other day I was going through what I had in the fridge that needed to be used. I’d made a large pot of garbanzo beans over the weekend and used some for curry and some more for chili, but there were still almost 2 jars left. I thought about freezing them, but I really needed to make something easy to eat for the next couple of days. (Caring for an infant and trying to work part time from home makes it hard to find time to cook for every meal!) I thought about what would be easy to eat, and decided to make falafel.
I checked out a few recipes on line, but most of them used ingredients I didn’t have on hand, started with the dry garbanzos, or used ingredients I’m avoiding. Most of them are also pan fried in oil. I realized that it was really just a matter of mixing cooked garbanzos with spices, a binder, and cooking them. This is what I ended up with, and they came out quite good if I do say so myself. (Hubby agrees!)
Easy Vegan Falafel
Ingredients
- 3 cans garbanzo beans (chickpeas) drained and rinsed (or about 6 cups of cooked dry garbanzo beans.)
- 1/2 cup + 1 T tahini
- 6T ground flax seed
- 1 7/8 t baking powder (just under 2 t)
- 3/8 cup dehydrated onion flakes (fresh diced onion would probably work too, but might require a bit more flour later)
- 3/8 cup dried cilantro (again, if using fresh you might need more flour later.)
- 3t cumin
- 3 cloves garlic, chopped (about 3t)
- 3t coriander
- 3t chili powder
- 3/4t salt
- 3t lemon juice
- 6 drops doTERRA lemon essential oil (or 6T lemon zest, but again…you may need more flour later.)
- 3/4 cup gluten free flour (I used Bob’s Red Mill Gluten Free Baking Mix because I had some that I had no plans for, but any type should work.) (You may need slightly more or slightly less depending on the moisture of your ingredients and how humid it is.)
- Olive oil (for greasing the pan and brushing on top.)
Directions
- Preheat the oven to 450*F
- Place all of the ingredients, except for the flour and oil, into your vitamix with the garbanzos on the bottom. (If you don’t have a vitamix, a food processor or stick blender would probably do an adequate job.)
- Blend or process the ingredients until they’re combined and a bit pasty. You don’t want a puree, so make sure you leave some chunks! Scrape down the sides or use your tamper often.
- Scrape the mixture into a mixing bowl
- Add the flour a little bit at a time until the mixture is somewhat dry (when you make a ball and flatten it the edges should crack a little bit.) If your mixture was already quite dry you may not need all of this. (I only needed 1/2 cup when using all of the drier ingredient options.)
You can see that it’s pretty dry.
- Form patties from the dough. I didn’t measure each patty, but I’d say each used about 2-3T of dough…a small handful. Roll each portion into a ball and flatten slightly to make a thick patty.
- Liberally oil a baking sheet (this could be skipped if you are avoiding oil, but make sure to use parchment paper or another method of avoiding food sticking to the pan.)
- Place the patties on the baking sheet, making sure they aren’t touching.
- Brush a little bit of oil over the tops of the patties.
Falafel patties ready to be baked. (This is a toaster oven pan…they aren’t huge!)
- Bake for 25 minutes, flipping over halfway through
- Serve on its own, over a salad, or in a wrap (I prefer over a salad with the sauce/dressing I’ve shared below.)
- Makes 5 servings of 6 patties each
The ones to the back/left were pan fried (hubby though he’d prefer them that way, but he didn’t!)
Vegan Falafel Sauce
Ingredients
- 1 cup soy free veganaise
- 3/4 cup relish
- 3t lemon juice
- 1 1/2t chopped garlic
- 3/8t black pepper
- 3/8t celery seed
Directions
- Stir all ingredients together in a bowl with a fork.
- Serve over Falafel.
Yummy! (Ignore the shriveled tomatoes…I told you I was cleaning out the fridge!)
These were yummy fresh from the oven, and cold the next day as well. If you want them warm as leftovers, I recommend waiting to bake them until the day you want to eat them. Being heated twice dries them out a bit (but they’re still yummy!) This was a quick nutritious meal I could eat one handed while holding the baby, and beyond the intial (pretty fast) prep, doesn’t take much time to get ready to eat.
Being vegan without... 