Nothing beats falafels made the traditional way but if you want falafels in under 30mins, I recommend this (rather rogue) cheats falafel recipe. You can make them without a food processor, in fact, they require zero equipment, sans deep frying and with tinned chickpeas. For a full spread serve them with caramelised onion hummus and gluten-free flatbreads.
ingredients
½ medium onion, very finely diced
2 Tbsp. olive oil, divided
1 garlic clove, minced
¼ tsp black pepper
½ tsp salt
1 tsp ground cumin
1 tsp ground coriander
1 Tbsp. harissa, optional
1 tin chickpeas, drained
2 Tbsp. chickpea flour
Juice of ½ a lemon
process
Turn the oven to 200C and line an oven tray with parchment paper.
Fry the onion with 1 Tbsp. olive oil until translucent. Add the garlic, pepper, salt, coriander, harissa and cumin. Fry until the spices are aromatic then add the chickpeas and cook for another 2-3mins or until any excess moisture has evaporated.
Remove the pan from the heat and use a potato masher or a fork to roughly mash the chickpeas (I like to leave about a quarter of the chickpeas whole for texture!). Add the chickpea flour and lemon juice and mix well to combine.
Allow the mixture to cool enough to handle and then shape into 8-10 tightly packed balls. Place on a baking tray, drizzle with the remaining oil and bake for 10-15mins.
