Are you in a lockdown slump? I definitely am. Not that it's lockdown so much as Cancellation of All My Hobbies Combined With Endless Risk Assessment of Anything Potentially Joyful now, but that is a mouthful. (COAMHCWERAOAPJ? No.) But the calendar grinds on, and it's vegan week again, and this time I'm embracing interesting salady things. And this. This turned out to be way more visually intriguing than expected.
It's a Nigel recipe, broad bean falafel, except I loathe broad beans and there were also some peas in the recipe, so it's chickpea and pea roast falafel instead. Not that real falafel isn't a deep-fried joyful calorie bomb, but that's not something I'm okay with doing at home (back to lockdown, sigh). So, baked chickpea nuggets it is.
The basic recipe is lots of chickpeas (originally 2 tins) and about equal beans plus peas. With herbs (tarragon, mint, parsley, and in my case the end of that dill I needed last Monday but which emerged from my salad drawer midweek, smirking. Oik herb). Cook the peas quickly, then blitz all this together. Plus seasoning, which is oddly absent from the recipe but definitely wanted in this green blandness. I'm fairly sure a bit of oil would cheer it up, though probably make it harder for them to hold together as falafel. It is lacking.
The blitzing will be easy in food processors but with a stick blender (in a saucepan because my blender goblet is leaking and its successor is stuck in the post), what you get is thick tentacles of green gloop swirling all over the place, as if coming
alive. It is really quite therapeutic if all you've done today is Mandatory Exercise, TMS, and despair.
Form into little patties (slightly flattened golf balls balls apparently; I'm not sure I know how big a golf ball is by eye). Chill for 30 mins, or leave on the side if your fridge is exploding with too much fruit and leaves. Then oven, 30 mins, 200deg. (I added a smidge of oil to the tops of these. Apparently they are meant to puff up and if that fails it was a mistake, but totally fat-free falafel? Phsaw.)
Serve with a watermelon and tomato salsa, or similar. It's supposed to have onion and cornichons, but mine just has lime juice and salt, for many reasons. It's quick, bright and well worth it.
There's also garlic yoghurt on the side (not that vegan etc etc). You need both. The actual falafel are pretty meh, despite all the herbs. It was worth a shot, sometimes squished up peas and beans can be excellent, even without fats. But today, bland warm lumps of vegetable proteinaceous meh. Much less fun than alien arms squirming in the pan. Never mind, it passed the time. I will warm up the leftovers with more oil, more salt and plenty more watermelon on the side.
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