Gluten-Free Heaven Australia - October 2017

The ultimate homemade falafel pittas

By Mob Kitchen (www.facebook.com/mobkitchen) GF DF EF V

Makes 4 | Prep 30 mins plus soaking and chilling | Cook 20-30 mins | Calories 758 (per serving)

Total fat Saturated Salt Sugar Protein

16.1g 2g 0.4g 17g 35.2g

FOR THE FALAFEL

500g (1lb 1oz) dried
chickpeas

a bunch of fresh parsley

a bunch of fresh
coriander

2 tsp cumin

1 tsp cayenne pepper

1 brown onion, peeled,
roughly chopped

3 garlic cloves, peeled

2 tbsp plain gluten-
free flour

salt and freshly ground
black pepper

FOR THE SALAD

4 tomatoes

1 cucumber

a handful of mint,

chopped

To assemble

juice of 1 lemon

a handful of parsley,

chopped

salt and freshly ground

black pepper

1 tbsp olive oil

4 gluten-free pittas

a pot of hummus

pickled green chillies

1 Pour the dried chickpeas into a bowl, cover with warm water and soak

overnight. Drain.

2 Preheat oven to 180°C.

3 Add all the falafel ingredients to a blender and pulse 3-4 times for 5 seconds. You

want the mixture to be rough rather than smooth, so don't overdo it. Check the

mixture can stick in a ball – if it is too loose, just add a little more flour.

4 Make little discs with the mixture, about 4cm (1½in) wide and 3cm (1¼in)

deep. Line the discs on a sheet of baking paper, then chill in the fridge for 10

minutes to firm up. The mixture should make about 20 discs.

5 For the salad, finely chop the tomatoes and put into a bowl. Peel the cucumber

and chop into chunks, then add to the bowl. Add the mint, parsley, lemon juice,

salt, pepper and olive oil and mix everything together. Set aside.

6 To cook the falafels there are two options – baked or fried. The baked have less

crunch but are more healthy. For the baked version, line a baking tray with baking

paper and place the falafel on the paper. Drizzle lightly with olive oil on one side,

then turn over and drizzle more on the other side. Pat in the oil with your fingers,

then bake in the oven for 30 minutes, flipping the falafel after 20 minutes.

7 For the fried option, pour sunflower oil 1.5cm (¾in) deep into a frying pan.

Heat the oil. Place the falafels in the pan and cook for 5-6 minutes on each

side, or until each side is brown and crisp. Remove from the pan and place on

kitchen paper to pat off the oil.

8 Warm the pittas and layer one side with a generous helping of hummus. Spoon

in some salad. Then break the falafels into the pittas. Lay some green chillies on

top, then spoon over a final layer of hummus.