Easy Chickpea Falafel
These Easy Chickpea Falafel are my new obsession. I canned chickpeas for simplicity and bake them in the oven instead of frying. These are Charlotte style, with beautiful pistachios, aromatic cardamom and sunny carrots for glow. They're not only super healthy, they are fragrant, flavorful and absolutely fabulous.
Servings: 4
Calories: 240kcal
Ingredients
- ¼ cup pistachios
- 2 tbsp shallot chopped
- 1 clove garlic chopped
- 1 15 oz can chickpeas drained and dried *see note below
- 1 carrot finely shredded
- 1 tsp cumin freshly ground if possible
- ¼ tsp cardamom seeds or ground cardamom
- ⅓ cup fresh parsley leaves torn
- ⅓ cup fresh basil leaves torn
- 5 mint leaves
- ½ tsp baking powder
- 1 tbsp oat bran
- 1 tbsp sesame oil
- salt & pepper to taste
- olive oil or coconut oil to grease the pan
Instructions
- Preheat oven to 400°F. Grease a baking sheet lined with parchment paper.
- In a food processor, pulse the pistachios a few times until ground. Add the shallot and garlic pulse until all are ground together. Add the remaining ingredients and blend until combined, stopping a few times to scrape sides of bowl with spatula. Mixture should be a paste like consistency, like cookie dough.
- Form 12-15 walnut sized balls and place on the oiled baking sheet. Bake for 20 minutes, turning the falafels halfway through. Enjoy fresh from the oven with tahini sauce and/or yogurt.
Notes
*After draining the chickpeas I heat them in a skillet on medium heat for 5 minutes, shaking the pan to make sure they don't stick. This gets rid of extra moisture that might make them crumble when you form them (or eat them). This step isn't necessary, just an extra precaution. I also like to get rid of excess skins that fall off in the pan.
Calories: 240 Protein: 10 g Fat: 10 g Carbs: 21 g Fiber: 9 g