When I was a vegetarian (this “phase” went on for 10 years, and I started eating meat again last August for health reasons), I practically lived off falafel. These Middle Eastern balls of nom, as one of the HHH Facebook followers referred to them as, are usually deep-fried, so they are far from healthy. That is such a shame because they are pretty much just made of chick peas and herbs and spices with a little flour. They are so easy to make healthier, and not everything that is deep-fried has to be deep fried. You can pretty much bake everything. You won’t get that exact same crispy texture, but don’t you eat food for the flavour and taste? Not just the texture?
You can have these as part of a main meal, along with something like couscous, but they also make a great post-workout snack as they are protein packed.
Ingredients – Makes 7:
- 400g/15oz chick peas, pre-soaked and cooked.
- 2 garlic cloves
- 2 tbsp fresh coriander/cilantro
- 1 red onion
- Juice of 1 lemon
- Half a tsp each of cumin, red chilli flakes, baking powder, paprika
- 1 egg, beaten
- 40g/ third of a cup of whole wheat flour
1) Put the cooked chick peas, garlic, parsley, onion, lemon juice, cumin, chilli, baking powder and paprika in a food processor and blend until minced, but make sure it doesn’t blend completely and end up smooth – there should still be some chunks.
2) Tip into a bowl and add the flour and egg and stir.
3) Spray a muffin tin with oil and using a spoon or ice cream scoop, add balls of the mixture into the muffin tin holes.
4) Bake ate 350F/170 C for 20 minutes. Brush with a little oil and turn and cook for a further 20 minutes.
Today I took my friend Laura to Australasia for lunch as part of her birthday present. It is voted one of the best restaurants in the city and it is pretty classy.
Seeing as it was lunch, I went with the intention just to have a water to drink, but we ended up having a cocktail to celebrate, because I just became an aunty to the most gorgeous baby in the world. So we had to wet the babies head. I had a mango margarita.
Our food was amazing and I had satay chicken on coconut noodles and lemon grass and tom yum fish cakes.I apologise for the blurriness, I am still getting used to getting my huge camera out in restaurants to take photos of my food. I was hoping they would think I was reviewing the restaurant and send us over more free food or something. No such luck!
Any of you out there aunties or uncles? Any tips?
What is the calorie content for these/ how many is a serving. I’m terrible about portion control.
When you say in the recipe “Brush with a little oil and turn and cook for a further 20 minutes.” do you mean I should take out the muffins from the muffin pan, turn them “up-side-down” and bake for another 20 mins? 40 mins seems awful long for non-meat snacks?
Yes, turn them upside down. 40 minutes is a fairly long time, but it makes them a little crispy.
This recipe looks wonderful, Dannii! I’m going to give it a try. I am vegetarian and although I love falafel,as you say, it’s always fried. I’m also a Weight Watchers Lifetime member, so I try to find good reduced recipes. Thanks!!!
You are very welcome, Fran. I always try to make a batch of these once a week to keep in the fridge. They make a great healthy and quick snack.
I can never eat shop falafel because of the flour but I can remember how good they are and should definitely get off my backside to make my own!
congratulations on being an auntie! I’m one, and a godmother, and it’s all good
You really should make some with gluten-free flour (I think I remember reading you are gluten free?). They are amazing.
These look amazing…can you sub whole wheat flour for GF flour or oat flour?
Yes, you can definitely substitute the flour.