Falafels and Tahini Sauce

Delicious, crunchy and not dried out!

I love nothing more than a falafel kebab. I love having a stash of these lovely little flavour filled falafels in the freezer, for when my partner wants a chicken shish, there's no missing out because I don't eat chicken. The extra lemony tahini sauce is delicious and I'll often enjoy some garlic and chilli sauce too, because, why not?

These also make a great working from home lunch just bunged in the air-fryer for 15/20min or you could make them into a patty shape for a falafel burger.

I remember I didn't make falafels for years as they would fall apart and be dry like shop ones often are (GOSH that is you I'm talking about, delicious but soo dry!). If these falafels aren't holding together, I simply blitz a small portion with the stick blender to act as a glue, et voila, holding together and not dry!

These balls have such a huge amount of herbs (I think you can count them as a veg portion) and I think it is worth it for the taste.

This recipe uses dried chickpeas, not tinned, soaked for 8 hours, or overnight, this means you are not making complete mush balls, but if that's what you like and want, I'm not judging you, but you may need to adjust ingredients and cooking times given.

Falafel Ingredients (makes 16 balls)

1 cup dried chickpeas, soaked overnight

0.5 cup roughly chopped onion

1 cup roughly chopped parsley, about a one large bunch

1 cup roughly chopped cilantro, about a one large bunch

0.5 small green chili pepper, serrano or jalapeno pepper

3 garlic cloves, roughly chopped

1 tsp cumin

0.5 tsp salt

0.25 teaspoon black pepper

2 tablespoons oat/chickpea or other flour

1 tsp bicarb of soda

Cold pressed rapeseed oil for spraying

Optional extras:

Tahini sauce

Wholemeal Pitta ( to complete chickpea protein)

Salad of choice

Hot sauce or salsa

Instructions:

1. Soak the dried chickpeas overnight or for at least 8 to 12 hours. Note that the chickpeas will triple in size, so cover them with plenty of water. Then drain, rinse and dry them.

2. Pulse all the ingredients except oil in a food processor - but do not blend completely. The final mixture should resemble fairly coarse sand.

3. Chill the falafel mixture for at least 30 minutes to one hour, or can be frozen at this point to use later.

4. Shape into balls, I usually use about 2 tbsps per ball. If they do not stick together, try liquidising some of the mixture further to act as a glue.

5. Place on lined baking trays with a little room in between.

6. Spray with oil and bake 20-25 min. A few minutes before the end, spray with a little oil again. Serve with tahini sauce.

Tahini Sauce Ingredients

0.5 cup/125ml tahini

0.25 cup/60ml water, or more for a thinner consistency

0.25 cup lemon juice, roughly 2 freshly squeezed lemons

2 garlic cloves, minced

0.5 teaspoon sea salt

0.25 teaspoon cumin

Optional extra:

Lemon zest for extra zing!

Instructions:

Whisk all together until combined, add more water for a thinner consistency. I make in a big jar for easy storage.

Sauce lasts a good few days to a week in the fridge due to the high amount of lemon juice to preserve it.