Falafel Time

When you learn it’s National Hummus Day, Celiac Awareness Month, continue to promote 2016’s International Year of the Pulses, and have a special lunch date lined up, you want to be creative to align all good things to promote good health, home made goodness, and to support all of these causes and awareness opportunities.  I can’t believe how easy (and fun) these were to make.  Patience – of course, but hands down a recipe I will make over again.

Serves 7 (makes 21 falafels)

Ingredients:

• 3 Cups Cooked Chick Peas (I rinse, soak and boil mine from dry)*
• 2 Cups Arugula
• 4 Garlic cloves
• ½ Cup Fresh parsley
• 5 Sundried tomatoes
• 2 Tbsp Dijon Mustard
• 1 Lemon, juiced
• 4 Tbsp Grapeseed oil
• 1 tsp Cumin
• 1 tsp each Fresh ground pepper and salt
• 3-4 Tbsp Oat flour or Gluten Free Bread crumbs
• 5 Tbsp Cooking oil (ie. vegetable or grapeseed)

Directions:

1. Preheat the oven to 375 ^o Fahrenheit.
2. In a large food processor, add the cooked chick peas, arugula, garlic, parsley, sundried tomatoes, Dijon mustard, lemon juice, grapeseed oil, cumin, salt and pepper. Mix well to combine all ingredients. If you feel the mixture is a little dry, you may want to add a touch more oil.
3. Transfer the mixture into a large bowl and add the oat flour or gluten free bread crumbs, one tablespoon at a time, mixing well to combine.
4. Form the mixture into small balls or flatter patties, whatever you’d like (~ 21 falafels will come from this mixture), and place on a parchment-paper lined cooking sheet.
5. Heat a large pan over medium heat. Add the cooking oil and allow to heat through. Add the falafels one at a time – don’t over crowd them here.
6. Cook in the oil for about 5 minutes, turning to brown on all sides. Place back on the baking sheet and continue with the remaining falafels.
7. Once all falafels have been cooked on the stove top, place in the oven and bake for 12-15 minutes until golden and crunchy around the edges.
8. Serve immediately with some hummus or a side of tzaziki sauce in a pita or along with a crunchy salad.

*Chick Peas – You can use canned chick peas here, but I find it more useful to cook up a big batch of dried chick peas, use some for a recipe, or into a soup, salad or chili, and freeze one batch for quick thaw on another week when I want home cooked. When you freeze chick peas, preserve a bit of the cooking water in the container with the chick peas, and once thawed, give them a good rinse before using them.