One of my very good friends is running a falafel restaurant and has given me some good tips on how to make an awesome gluten-free falafel.
I have made few changes to the original recipe and I have come up with this delicious recipe.
I cook chickpeas quite often as we love them. I will put a lot more recipes with this amazing ingredient which I think is overly understated and we often don’t realize how good for our health this is.
I will only enumerate a few things out of the numerous benefits chickpeas could possibly be bringing to our health by consuming it.
These amazing beans contain a high amount of fibres, potassium, vitamins B6 and C paired with a low cholesterol which will mean a good and healthy heart ❤️, it also helps to regulate blood sugar and insulin levels so it helps with diabetes.
It strengthens our bones and this is due to its more minerals and vitamins content such as iron, calcium, manganese, magnesium, phosphate, zinc and vitamin K. ⛹
And the list can go on but I’m sure I have managed to persuade you to have more chickpeas now and really consider bringing them on your table more often at least.
Serving Tips
-
These falafel are delicious served on their own with some hummus;
-
I generally do not make them spicy since kids will want to have quite a few too so I love adding some chilli sauce on mine
-
Falafel is great served on a salad bed, in a pita pocket with a bit of everything mentioned (salad, chilli sauce, hummus) and of course some tahini sauce and a drizzle of lemon juice. Out of this world! Beautiful on a homemade flatbread too.
Can I freeze falafel?
- Yes, they freeze well. You may freeze them cooked or uncooked. If they are cooked, allow them to cool and then freeze into plastic bags or container to avoid crumbling these in the freezer. Reheat in the oven at 190C or 375F until piping hot all throughout.
- If you wish to freeze them uncooked, just form them and place in a container separating the layers by parchment paper sheets.
- Falafel will be good frozen up to 1 month. Cook them straight from frozen by choosing whatever method you prefer.
Let’s get these falafel beauties made.
Gluten free falafel
Equipment
- ovenproof dish
- glass bowl
- spatula
- food processor
- pan (optional) if pan cooking
- chopping board
- knife
Ingredients
- 500 g chickpeas (organic) cooked weight
- 25 g gluten-free flour I generally use fine oatmeal
- 2 medium onions finely chopped
- 2 cloves garlic (organic)
- 30 g fresh herbs I use parsley and corriander finely chopped
- 1 tsp turmeric powder (organic)
- 1 tsp cumin powder
- 1/4 tsp cayenne pepper
- 1 tbsp himalayan salt
- 1-2 chilli green or red (optional)
Instructions
- *** If you are cooking the dry chickpeas, ideally soak them for a while which can be anything between 3-12 hours and change the water at least once if you can and remember.
- After soaking, rinse the chickpeas very well and place in a pot with a 3/4 tbsp of salt and cook/boil covered for 30-40 minutes if soaked a good few hours. If you didn't get to soak them I always recommend you follow pack instructions. If you chose to use the canned beans(easiest way) there is no need for any of the above but jump straight to step 4.
- While chickpeas are cooking, peel wash and chop roughly the onions and the garlic, and place all in a food processor along with the chopped parsley, coriander, salt pepper, cayenne and cumin powder. Add the flour now too. Give these a good few pulses.
- Put the chickpeas in the food processor, give these a few pulsing rounds and until they roughly chop and mix with the onion mix. You may need to scrape the sides. Just give the mixture a few more pulses until all mixed but still remain fairly rough. Do not over mix.
- You may place the mixture to rest in the fridge for 20-30 min if you wish.
- With a spoon take the mix and form balls (approx 2cm) and place on a lightly greased parchment paper and bake for 30-40' at 19° C/375F. You can also fry them in a little oil or even deep fry them. Choose whatever method you wish. I bake them but deep-fried they taste the best.
- Serve and enjoy. See Serving suggestions for some really delicious options.
Alan Butler says
Hello Ramona have you any Lamb Curry recipes?
Many thanks
Ramona says
Well, Alan…
I don't have any lamb curry recipes posted yet, but I will post that very,very soon as I prepare lamb curries regularly. Stay tuned.