Falafel is one of my favourite foods! I love the texture and herby flavour. I always bake my falafel at home, and they taste just as good as the fried ones from restaurants. I served them up on a bed of massaged kale and broccoli sprouts, smothered in a homemade cashew-based roasted red pepper aioli, with a side of sweet and spicy mango salsa. These flavours are seriously amazing together!
This recipe is vegan, gluten free, and refined sugar free.
If you make this recipe and want to show off on IG, you can tag me, @gardentotableblog.ca!
Serves 2-4
Ready in 1 hour, 15 minutes
Ingredients
Falafel
2 cups cooked chickpeas, drained, rinsed
3 shallots, finely diced
2 cloves garlic, finely chopped
1/4 fresh flatleaf parsley, chopped
1/4 cup fresh cilantro, chopped
3 stalks scallion, finely chopped
1 tablespoon smoked paprika
2 teaspoons chilli powder
2 teaspoons onion powder
1 teaspoon ground cumin
2 tablespoons nutritional yeast
1/2 tsp red pepper flakes
1 tablespoon extra virgin olive oil
2-4 tablespoons whole wheat flour (sub gf)
juice of 1/2 a lemon
1 teaspoon sea salt
1/2 teaspoon cracked black pepper
Roasted red pepper aioli
2 red bell peppers, roasted
1 tablespoon extra virgin olive oil
1/4 teaspoon sea salt
1/4 teaspoon cracked black pepper
1/4 cup raw cashews, soaked, drained
juice of 1/2 a lemon
Mango salsa
1 mango, diced
1 teaspoon red pepper flakes
1/4 cup fresh cilantro, chopped
1/4 teaspoon sea salt
Instructions
Preheat oven to 400 F
For the roasted red pepper aioli, cut bell peppers in half lengthwise. Remove the seeds, and rub the inside and outside of the halves in olive oil. Sprinkle with salt and pepper. Roast cut side down for 25-30 minutes until skin is charred. Let the peppers slightly cool before blending with remaining aioli ingredients. Refrigerate until serving
For the mango salsa, mix salsa ingredients together and refrigerate until serving
For the falafel, in a pan over medium heat, add 1 tablespoon of olive oil. Cook shallot for 5 minutes until fragrant and almost browned. Add garlic, and continue to cook for 2 minutes. Take it off the heat
Pulse chickpeas in food processor until broken down. There shouldn't be any whole chickpeas, but they shouldn't be as smooth as hummus. After processing, pour them into a mixing bowl with the shallot and garlic from the pan, and the remaining falafel ingredients. Mix thoroughly until every ingredient is evenly incorporated
With an ice cream scoop, form balls out of the falafel mixture. There should be about 10 falafel balls. Bake for 30 minutes, flipping once halfway through
After baking, serve falafel with roasted red pepper aioli, and mango salsa
Remember
I really recommend chickpeas cooked at home from dry for this recipe. It makes a big difference in the texture! But, you can also use canned chickpeas. Make sure they're thoroughly drained and rinsed!
You can sub 1:1 gluten free flour for wheat flour