It was time to try something a little different for dinner last night. Allegra is obsessed with burgers, and we both like falafels, so we decided to combine the two for maximum delicious (and nutritious) results!
We’ve made falafels in the past, so it wasn’t too difficult to conjure up the taste we loved. We started with this base recipe from Chef In You.
The inventory for our recipe ended up being:
15 0z. can chickpeas
1 onion
3 cloves of garlic
2 tsp cumin
1 tsp lemon zest
5 leaves of basil
5 leaves of mint
Dash of cayenne pepper
Dash of pepper
1.5 dash of salt
0.5 cup garbanzo/fava flour (I’m sure you could use whatever flour you’d like)
Step Zero:
Pre-heat the frickin’ oven to around 350 degrees of the Fahrenheit.
Step Uno:
Drain the chickpeas, rinse ‘em good.
Step Dos:
Put everything except the flour into a good quality blender or food processor. BLEND until it looks like moist cookie dough. (Note: It will not taste like cookie dough)
Step Tres:
Scoop it out. Add flour until it’s drier and moldable, sort of Play-Doh consistency. It’s okay if you don’t use all the flour, or if you use even more!
Step Quatro:
Grease a baking sheet, grease it good. Or use parchment with a light spritz of oil. YOUR CHOICE.
Step Cinco:
Pat the falafel dough into patties like any ol’ hamburger sorta thing and slap ‘em on the sheet. (Note: These are best fresh outta the oven. We decided to just make two patties and save the rest for latter. We covered the bowl with foil and had some for lunch today and it was totally still delicious, possibly even more so. We also popped some remaining patties into Ziplocs and locked ‘em in the freezer for a rainy day.)
Step 6 (translation necessary):
Cook until the top side starts to look a little dry, probably 8-10 minutes, then flip ‘em. They should be goldeny brown on the bottom (now top). Cook for another 7-9 minutes and then take ‘em out and eat them however you want!!
I’m allergic to wheat, corn, eggs, milk, and tomatoes so my burger toppings are probably going to look a little different than a lot of people. Allegra settled for the norm when it came to toppings: a toasted bun from our local New Seasons grocers, vegan mayo, mustard, ketchup, lettuce, onions, and pickles. I went for a more avant garde combination: lettuce-wrapped with Wholly Guacamole, Karam’s (of Seattle) Garlic Sauce, onions, salt and pepper with a side of Pop Chips (OMG, I love Pop Chips).
We both agreed it was a fantastic dinner which will be put into the vegan vault of meals we are slowly accruing.
Whether you’re a staunchy meatball consumer, or someone who only enjoys eating things without a mother and a face (think about it), this is a recipe for anyone.
Three words for you: CHOMP. ON. THIS.
Related articles
- Spaghetti and Falafel Balls (vegansparkles.com)
