The recipe for this Middle-East delicacy is fully vegan, i.e. without egg. As a ”binder” I have used coarsely crushed chia seeds which have been soaked in water. Probably due to the high content of omega fatty acids in chia, there is already a suitable bitter background taste, which requires only a little bit tahini (sesame paste), lemon juice and sweetness (sugar or honey) to complete the taste palette.
Ingredients
- 20 g chia (crushed)
- 70 g rolled oats
- 2 dl water
- Juice from ½ lemon
- 1 tbs sugar or honey
- 0.5 dl oil (olive or rape seed)
- 2 ts ground seeds of caraway, cumin or dill. Coriander seeds, thyme and mint fit well. Garlic lovers can squeeze one or two cloves into the dough.
- 1 tbs chili paste (shriracha or sambal olek) or 1 tbs of finely chopped fresh milk chili pepper.
- Handful of finely chopped parsley or coriander (cilantro).
- 400 g drained chickpeas (from a can) and 1 ts tahini.
- Wheat flour for battering.
Procedure
- Mix crushed chia seeds and rolled oats to water. Let them soak for 10 min.
- Add oil, lemon juice sugar and spices. Salt is not needed, since it comes with canned chickpeas.
- Add chickpeas and masticate everything with a blender.
- Heat the oven to 200 °C.
- Cover a plate with wheat flour. Make small dumplings with spoons, and roll them on plate until they are fully coated with wheat flour.
- Roll the dumplings into balls between your palms.
- Cover the bottom of a casserole with 0.5 dl oil. Roll the falafel balls so that oil attaches evenly onto the surface.
- Bake the falafel balls in oven for 30 min. Turn the balls once during baking.
Serve falafel with rice and sweet chili sauce. Garnish with fresh parsley or coriander. Yogurt or buttermilk fits well as it is or spiced with garlic and salt.
Dine with a Vegan 