Day 21: Fun with Falafel!

The Falafel worked!  Yes it did!  It worked, and was delicious, and very very cheap!  I also have about 3 meals' supply left over.

So basking in my triumph, I am going to do nothing else today but post my recipe.  It is an adaptation of one that you can find here: Falafel Recipe - which is far more authentic, of course.  But mine suited me, and was also much lower in fat.

So here you are:

Falafel     (serves 4-6)

Ingredients:

1 cup dried chickpeas

1 large onion

2 cloves garlic

2 tsp cumin

2 tbsp flour

salt and pepper

olive oil (preferably in a spray bottle)

Method
1)  Soak chickpeas overnight in plenty of water.  Drain, add fresh water, and bring to the boil for about 5 minutes.  Reduce heat, and simmer for at least one hour.  (I used my slow cooker.)  Drain, and allow to cool for at least 15 minutes. (3 days in my case!)

2) Roughly chop the onion and garlic, and add to the food processor with the chickpeas, cumin, flour, and and seasoning.  Whizz until the mixture forms a rough dry paste, and can be shaped with the hands.  (I had to do this in a couple of batches.)

3) Turn on the oven and preheat to 200 degrees celcius.  Spray the oil on a large baking tray.

4) With your hands, shape the mixture into balls around an inch in diameter, and space evenly on the baking tray.  The mixture makes about 24 balls. Or make them into burger shapes to use as vegeburgers.  Spray all the falafel balls with oil, and bake for half an hour until crisp on the outside and lightly browned.

Serve in pitta breads with lettuce, tomato, baba ghanoush, hummus, and/or thick natural yoghurt.  (Add some chopped mint leaves to the yoghurt, if desired.)  You could also shred some savoy cabbage instead of the lettuce!

Today's Expenditure: 70p