A popular Middle Eastern dish, baked and not fried!
"Falafel is a popular Middle Eastern food that uses chickpeas or other beans with a mix of spices and herbs formed into balls or burgers for a quick snack or as part of a meal. They boast an impressive nutritional profile of healthy complex carbohydrates, protein, fibre and fat. A one hundred gram serving of chickpeas offers up 17gr of fibre and 19gr of protein! "
Fibre, if you haven't heard, is the new darling of food nutrients in healthy eating circles as it is one of the top sources to help maintain a healthy and vibrant microbiome. The more variety of plant foods you eat, the healthier your microbiome will be!
Falafel is a popular Middle Eastern food that uses chickpeas or other beans with a mix of spices and herbs formed into balls or burgers for a quick snack or part of a meal. They boost a impressive nutritional profile of healthy complex carbohydrates, protein, fibre and fat. In just one hundred gram serving of chickpeas you get 17gr of fibre and 19gr of protein! Fibre, if you haven’t heard is an absolute must for a healthy microbiome! Chickpeas are also a wonderful source of calcium, vitamin C and iron just to name a few of the vitamins and minerals in this complex carbohydrate!
Baked or Fried?
In vegan and vegetarian circles, there is a lot of discussion on the use of oils in
cooking in the last several years. The main issue, which I tend to agree with is that it is a processed food. Depending on the company, the source and the process, oils can be stripped of many of the beneficial nutrients that the whole food, like olives, actually contain. Further to that, frying with oils is also a tricky practice as many oils have low smoke points and even those with higher smoke points are not considered truly healthy. So, keeping those point in mind, these falafels are baked, whereas, traditionally, falafels tend to be fried. This baked version I believe is far better in taste than the fried counterparts.
Make into flat rounds or into a falafel burger! They taste great either way. Top me with some homemade dipping sauce and prepare to rock the taste buds!
Make sure to read the entire recipe (as there are options on how to prep) and prepare your “mise en place” (putting in place; meaning, have all your ingredients cleaned, portioned and prepared ready to use). This will help you flow through the recipe without error and ensures a final product that looks and tastes the way it should!
Baked Falafel
Servings: 18 falafels or 4-5 burgers
(Updated June 22, 2022 with Sprouted Version. See below)
Ingredients:
1 1/2 cup of dried chickpeas or 3-4 cups of cooked or canned
1/2 cup white sweet onion, sliced
3 garlic cloves, diced
1 tsp cumin seeds
1 tbsp ground flax seed
1 1/2 tsp of cumin powder
1 tsp of turmeric
1/2 tsp of chipotle powder
1 chia egg ( 1 tbsp of chia seed with 1/4 cup room temp water)
1/2 cup of chopped fresh parsley
1/2 jalapeño pepper ( seeded)
1-2 sun-dried tomatoes (in oil)
1 tsp salt
1/2 tsp pepper
1 tbsp olive oil
Preparation:
chickpeas: this recipe will accommodate canned chickpeas ensuring that you have rinsed and allowed them to drain the excess water. Important to have them on the drier side, so you may need to pat them dry with a tea towel or paper towel.
the other option is to soak and cook your own chickpeas which is my preferred method.
soak 1 1/2 of dried chickpeas overnight in water with 1 tsp of baking soda or a strip of kombu (seaweed) to help tenderize beans and aid in release of phytic acid and gas producing raffinose sugars; rinse and drain in the morning. Some chickpeas are smaller, some are larger and you may get between 4-5 cups soaked.
Note:if you are going to have the beans soaking longer than 12 hours, make sure to drain, rinse and add fresh water midway during the soak time.
to cook the chickpeas, add to a pot with enough water to cover the chickpeas.
bring to a boil, turn down to medium and allow to simmer till tender.
add 1 tbsp of apple cider vinegar or lemon in the last 10 minutes of cooking to help break done gas producing enzymes.
drain, rinse, allow to cool before using in recipe.
Proceed with recipe as follows:
in a small skillet, add olive oil and the cumin seeds.
stirring gently till cumin seeds are heated through and crackling.
add the onions, sauté till translucent
add garlic, cumin powder, turmeric, chipotle, sun-dried tomato and jalapeño pepper.
sauté gently for 1 minute and set aside
place chickpeas into a high powered blender and blend till chickpeas are very crumbly. Add the sautéed mix, any remaining spices (salt and pepper), flax, chia egg and parsley. Blend until a uniform consistency is achieved or form a rough ball
allow to sit for several minutes for any moisture to be absorbed.
to form falafel balls, simply use 2 tbsp of chickpea dough; roll into a ball with the option to slightly flatten with a fork on the top of the ball.
for burger patties, simply use 1/2 cup of mixture, forming into a ball and flattening and shaping into rounds.
to warm them, crisp and firm them up, bake at 400F for 10-15 minutes; flipping over mid-bake till each side is nicely browned and crusted.
Meal Tip/Preparation:
falafel balls or burgers can be frozen and reheated in a 325F oven for 10-15 minutes
most dishes that call for “not using canned” chickpeas in the recipes call for frying the falafels and indicate that the falafels fall apart while frying- in this recipe I bake them and have used canned without having experienced any breakage in the falafels or burgers.
I like to dress the burger with my usual burger toppings like lettuce, tomato, avocado, arugula, pickles and for added umami, chipotle sauce (Link here https://www.annaznutrition.com/post/quick-and-easy-baked-chicken-with-zucchini-wedges-and-chipotle-d )sauce mixed with ketchup!! Yum! 😋
Dipping Sauce:
Simple Tahini Dipping Sauce
Ingredients:
2 tsp of tahini
1 tbsp of coconut aminos or soy sauce
1 tbsp of maple syrup
2 tsp of lemon juice
pinch of salt
Preparation:
whisk all ingredients together in a small or bowl or shake in a small mason jar.
For more recipes using chickpeas, check out Butta Chick'n Peas or Build A Salad recipes.
Sprouting Chickpeas
Follow the same ingredient list above with the exception of the chickpeas and instead of cooking after the soak period, allow them to sprout for 2-3 days till you have a sprout that is 1-2 cm long. Do not go beyond four days. The sprouts should be fresh looking with no off putting smell, white fuzzies or mold.
Ingredients:
1 1/2-2 cups of dried chickpeas (= 3 to 4 cups of soaked chickpeas)
1 tsp of baking soda or a strip of kombu seaweed
3-4 cups of filtered water or more;
To soak:
rinse the chickpeas, removing any darkened, spotted chickpeas or any broken chickpeas
place in a large bowl or wide mouth large mason jar with filtered water and 1/4 tsp of pure baking soda or kombu seaweed to help breakdown the anti-nutrients
cover and leave for 8-12 hours
chickpeas should double in size, add more water if the chickpeas surface above the water line.
if you are leaving longer than 12 hours, rinse before or at the 12 hour mark and refresh the water to help rid of any anti-nutrients or gas release.
To sprout:
drain the chickpeas into a colander
rinse the chickpeas in colander, removing any other discoloured or spotted chickpeas
allow to drain, shake off any excess water
place in same bowl or jar
place indirect or sunny spot, rinsing 2x per day( once in morning and once in evening) for 2-3 days until they develop sprouts that are approximately 1-2 cm long.
Once ready, give them a final rinse and proceed with the recipe, incorporating either sauteed spices, as per recipe above or simply add the spices in raw into the food processor. The baking process will be longer as the chickpeas are raw and will need longer to bake.
Here is the above sauteed version:
in a small skillet, add olive oil and the cumin seeds.
stirring gently till cumin seeds are heated through and crackling.
add the onions, sauté till translucent
add garlic, cumin powder, turmeric, chipotle, sun-dried tomato and jalapeño pepper.
sauté gently for 1 minute and set aside
place chickpeas into a high powered blender and blend till chickpeas are very crumbly. Add the sautéed mix, any remaining spices (salt and pepper), flax, chia egg and parsley. Blend until a uniform consistency is achieved or form a rough ball
allow to sit for several minutes for any moisture to be absorbed.
to form falafel balls, simply use 2 tbsp of chickpea dough; roll into a ball with the option to slightly flatten with a fork on the top of the ball.
for burger patties, simply use 1/2 cup of mixture, forming into a ball and flattening and shaping into rounds.
bake at 350F for 25-30 minutes; flipping over mid-bake till each side is nicely browned and crusted.
Meal Tip/Preparation:
alternatively, the spices can be added in raw instead of the sauté method if you are in a rush; the flavour is more intense and less sweet than the sautéed version
raw falafel balls or burgers can be frozen and baked in a 350F oven for 25-30 minutes
use a firm spatula and care when flipping falafel or burgers during the baking cycle as the one side will still be moist and may split
Kombu contains enzymes that help break down the gas producing raffinose sugars in beans so we are able to absorb more of the nutrients without as many intestinal complaints. [Kombu is a seaweed and therefore contains iodine, for those with a thyroid condition or those on potassium medications should check with their health care practitioner; use kombu sparingly].
can be added to salads or wraps
Disclaimer: The information, including but not limited to text, graphics, images and other material contained on this website are for educational purposes only. This information is not intended to be a substitute for professional medical advice. Always seek the advice of your physician or other qualified healthcare provider with any questions you may have regarding a medical condition or treatment before undertaking any new health care regimen, and never disregard professional medical advice or delay in seeking it because of something you have read. From time to time blog posts may be updated to reflect current and relevant trends in the industry and are only as current as data/science is made available at time of writing. Always research any information of concern to your personal health condition, do not rely solely on the information presented here. This information is not intended as advice, treatment, a cure, nor diagnosis.
Comments