Carrot Falafel
180g grated carrots
400g can of chickpeas, rinsed and drained
1 red onion, very finely diced
1 garlic clove, crushed
¼ teaspoon smoked paprika
½ teaspoon ground cumin
½ teaspoon baking powder
2 tablespoons potato flour or rice flour
2 egg whites
salt and pepper
bread crumbs
Put this into a bowl - I found the mix to be a little wet so I added a handful of bread-crumbs just to help the mixture hold together.
The next thing is to form balls - because I quite like to have that extra crunch I roll the balls in bread-crumbs. Take 1-2 tablespoons of the mixture and form it into a ball between the palms of your hands - then continue rolling them around in the bread-crumbs before setting aside to continue.
This mix should make around 24 balls. You can make these ahead of time and store on paper towels in a sealed container in the fridge.
To cook, I use a small saucepan and fry in a couple of inches of vegetable oil. It should take approximately 2 minutes to cook each falafel - keep an eye on the temperature of the oil. Another reason I like to crumb the balls is that it keeps them together and helps them not break up - you also end up with a most wonderful golden coating.
When cooked, place on paper towels to remove any excess oil.
These would make excellent finger food served with a yoghurt based dip - of course they would be perfect in a traditional Falafel.
I love falafel too & had the same thoughts as you - difficult, fiddly, etc. Now that you have shown how easy they are I might give them a go soon - they look scrumptious
Ange do try them - the carrot brings a nice different textural element and a bit of sweetness to the falafel. The great thing is that you can prepare them in advance and just cook them when you need them.
This loooks really good. I haven't made falafel since college. They used to sell the mixes, just add water, you know? Anyway they were never as good as the falafel stands. I ought to give this a try.
I've seen those packets and wondered what they tasted like. I was a bit sceptical about that just add water part. I hope you do give them a try!
From one Falafel fan to another. Haalo, your carrot falafel sounds really great and I will try it the next time I make some. I prepared falafel quite some time ago with canned chick peas, as I couldn't find dried ones, loved it, but didn't try it again until a couple months ago. That time I used dried and soaked chick peas...I was told it is better than using canned ones. I planned them for a party and tried to prepare as much food in advance as possible. I made the "dough" a day in advance and found that it got much more cohesive and better to work with by resting overnight. I guess this way the ingredients have more time to soak up some of the moisture. I used fine ground bulgur instead of flour, my recipe gave me both choices. I also use an ice cream type scoop (they come in different sizes), where you press a handle to release the balls, this makes forming the falafel light years faster and less messy. I got the idea with the scoops from some TV show. Recently, I was able to taste some egyptian falafel made with fava beans and liked this better than the chick pea ones...they have a real pretty green color.
Hi Angelica and thank you for the comments. Ice cream scoops are an excellent way of getting really even round shapes - fava beans sound really interesting, I'll have to try that as well!
Ooooh... our CSA box came with a load of carrots that I have to work through... sounds awesome.
Sounds like a perfect use for your carrots Chris!