Beetroot falafel

The weather has still been great here, only too dry, as the plants and animals would desperately need some water to drink. I hope that everyone is remembering to put shallow water bowls to your gardens for hedgehogs and others, if there is also a dry and hot spell in your area!

There was only one cloudier day this week, but otherwise it has been hot. I've tried to stay in the shade, as I'm not too keen of hot weather either. But it's also good, as I found a bunch of summer clothing that I haven't been able to wear for ages due to chilly weather last year. They all feel like new now and my holiday wardrobe is thereby sorted.

So I made these colourful beetroot falafel the other day. I wish I had made this falafel mix myself, but no, it is a shop bought new variant with chickpeas and beetroot. The mix holds together very well when fried and is easy to shape, so I've bought it a few times now. The beetroot flavour is present, but it's not too overpowering. This mix makes a great change to regular falafel, and I'm sure that it would also make great veggie burgers.

Beetroot falafel

Ingredients

400 g beetroot falafel mix

Vegetable oil for frying

Pita bread

Cashew nut and almond hummus

Tomato slices

Yellow bell pepper pieces

Mixed salad leaves

Pickled red onion

Method

Shape falafel from the mix and fry them in oil until crispy on the outside.

Prepare the vegetables and other toppings.

Serve the falafel with the pita bread and toppings.

Enjoy!

Your VegHog

Falafel platter

I made a hearty falafel platter on Sunday and I really enjoyed it. It was filled with homemade falafel, veggies, halloumi and hummus. This was just my kind of platter and the left-overs fed us for two further lunches, as it was incredibly filling. This dish is easy to veganise by simply leaving out the halloumi, everything else is vegan.

I used a slightly different method in the falafel making by oven baking them, or basically just grilling them under the grill setting in the oven. I also got to use these lovely Hodmedod's split dried fava beans, which are an excellent ingredient. Please read more details below how to make these falafel.

Falafel

10 chunky falafel

1 cup split dried fava beans

2 cups cooked chickpeas

1 onion

5 garlic cloves

2 small chillies

1 tbsp vegetable oil

1 tsp smoked paprika

1 tsp ground cumin

1 tsp ground coriander

1 tsp salt

Bunch fresh coriander

Bunch fresh parsley

Sides

Homemade hummus

Salad with lettuce, cherry tomatoes and grated carrots

Pomegranate seeds

Fried halloumi

Char-grilled bell peppers

Pita bread

Method

Cook the fava beans and chickpeas until they are done. I decided to cook them, although in some falafel recipes they are just soaked.

Chop the onion, garlic and chillies finely and cook them briefly in vegetable oil in a pan until they are soft and the onions slightly browned.

Season the onion mix and add the fresh herbs, fava beans and chickpeas to the mix and purée. I like to purée the mix just partially, still leaving some chickpeas whole.

Shape chunky falafel from the mix and grill them in the oven under the highest grill setting for a few minutes. Turn to grill the other side as well.

I would like to share the falafel recipe with this month's My Legume Love Affair challenge hosted by Rafeeda from The Big Sweet Tooth and co-hosted by Lisa from Lisa's Kitchen.

Have further a nice week!

Your VegHog

Falafel with char-grilled vegetables and halloumi

I bought a new grill pan, a second one, which is a bit smaller than my first one. It's a neat little pan and it obviously inspired me to char-grill some vegetables. Then I was considering what to have with them and thought of homemade falafel, which are always nice. That's how this dish came to life, simple but oh so tasty!

As the making method for the falafel I chose baking in the oven in order to avoid an additional oil addition. They should be put into the oven only briefly under high heat so that they get some colour, but not too long that they dry out. All components are already cooked before, so they don't need any extra cooking. Have a look at my recipe below, which should make about 10 falafel.

Ingredients

1 cup dried chickpeas

1 can broad beans

3-4 garlic cloves

1 small onion

1 tsp vegetable oil

15 g fresh parsley

15 g fresh coriander

1 tsp ground cumin

1 tsp ground coriander

½ tsp chilli flakes

1 tsp salt

Sides:

Hummus

Tomatoes

Carrots

Baby bell peppers

Munchkin pumpkin

Halloumi

Method

Soak the chickpeas overnight and then cook until done.

Chop the garlic and onion and pre-cook them a little in oil in a pan.

Mix the chickpeas, broad beans, garlic onion and the spices and mash them into a mixture that sticks well together. I like to leave some of the chickpeas whole in this process.

Shape falafel from the mixture and place them on a baking tray.

Bake them in the oven at 250 C for a few minutes until the falafel have received some colour. Don't bake them too long, as they can then dry up.

I served my falafel with some homemade hummus and char-grilled vegetables and halloumi. I wanted to try my new grill pan, and indeed it was very nice to use.

I'm entering this recipe to this month's Eat Your Greens, a vegetarian cooking and blogging challenge hosted by Shaheen from A2K - A Seasonal Veg Table. The greens here are the broad beans and the lovely fresh herbs parsley and coriander.

Your VegHog

The VegHog's falafel burgers

Maybe you remember when I wrote in March about how I accepted falafel back into my life. I hadn't fully discarded them, but wasn't too fond of them either as they often tend to be the only vegetarian alternative available (at least back in the day). Anyhow, my homemade falafel feast reverted me again, and now we're back in the subject, as I have made my own falafel burgers!

This falafel recipe is very similar to my previous one, I only had frozen broad beans instead of the canned ones, but both seem to work well. And of course instead of small falafel, we are now making chunkier burger patties.

This is how you can make 8 falafel burgers.

2 cups dried chickpeas

2 cups frozen broad beans

5 garlic cloves

5 spring onions

15g fresh parsley

15g fresh coriander

1tsp salt

1tsp ground cumin

1tsp ground coriander

1tsp baking powder

Vegetable oil for frying

Soak the chickpeas overnight and boil them in water for about 20 minutes.

Chop the garlic and the spring onions finely and remove any large stalks from the herbs.

Then just purée all the ingredients together into a paste that should be easy to shape with your hands.

Shape burger patties from the mix.

Heat vegetable oil in a frying pan (or you can deep fry these) and fry the falafel burgers on both sides until they are golden brown with crispy surfaces.

Serve in a pitta bread with char-grilled peppers, hummus, fresh tomatoes and spinach (or any other veggies) and enjoy! 

Your VegHog

Falafel feast

Finally the weekend is here, and more time can be spent in the kitchen! Why not make a falafel feast for your loved ones like I made recently. Some years ago I'd had enough of falafel. Quite often they were the only, or the best, vegetarian alternative available, and so I thought that I had already eaten more than my share. However now I started thinking that I should give them another chance, and decided to make my own. It turned out that I still like them very much and will definitely have them more often again.

As an inspiration and guideline I read quite a few falafel recipes, but mainly based my own version on the Guardian article How to cook the perfect falafel and a recipe in the wonderful cookbook Veggiestan by Sally Butcher. The making of the falafel is surprisingly simple, and you can combine them with pretty much anything.

So this is how I made mine, and the recipe makes about 15 falafel.

2 cups dried chickpeas

195g broad beans (1 can)

5 garlic cloves

4 spring onions

15g fresh parsley

15g fresh coriander

1tsp salt

1tsp ground cumin

1tsp ground coriander

1tsp baking powder

Vegetable oil for frying

Soak the chickpeas overnight. Many recipes suggested that the chickpeas don't need to be pre-boiled, but I boiled them for 20 minutes anyway. The main reason being that I don't have a good food processor, just my old hand mixer. You can decide which version you prefer.

Chop the garlic and the spring onions and remove any large stalks of the herbs. Then just purée all the ingredients together into a paste that should be easy to shape with your hands.

Heat vegetable oil in a frying pan (or you can deep fry these) and fry the falafel on both sides until crispy.

This is how simple it is!

Serve the falafel with: homemade hummus, tahini, salad with mixed leaves, heirloom tomatoes and shallot rings, char-grilled peppers with harissa coating (chopped peppers first char-grilled on both sides, then brushed with harissa and baked in the oven for 20 minutes), char-grilled halloumi and pitta bread.

Enjoy!

Your VegHog