Today we propose falafel, the spicy chickpea balls typical of the middle eastern cuisine. This version is lighter than the original one, because the falafel aren’t fried but cooked in the oven. The falafel are prepared with chickpea flour, rich in proteins, fiber and mineral salts such as potassium and calcium, and are served with tahini sauce, the sesame sauce that contains iron, potassium phosphorus, calcium and vitamins of group B.
Ingredients
Ingredients for the falafel
250 g of chickpea flour
1 tablespoon of chopped parsley
1/2 teaspoon of ground coriander
1/2 teaspoon of cumin
1/4 chopped onion or, alternatively, a teaspoon of onion powder
1 clove of garlic
1 hot chili pepper
extra virgin olive oil
1 teaspoon of salt
Q.s. water
Ingredients for the sauce
200 ml of tahini sauce
1 tablespoon of lemon juice
1 handful of chopped parsley
Q.s. water
In a bowl pour the chickpea flour, the spices, the onion and the salt, stir with a spoon. Keep on stirring and add a little oil and water until you’ll obtain a smooth and homogenous but consistent dough. Put in the fridge for ten minutes, then make balls. Spread with oil and bake in the fan oven at 180° for fifteen minutes. In the meantime prepare the sauce, in a bowl pour the tahini, you can buy it in specialty stores, the lemon juice, the parsley and water until you’ll have a smooth sauce. Serve the falafel with the tahini sauce and salad as side dish.
It is possible to use, instead of fresh onion, onion in powder, that can be mixed better in the dough. You can prepare it at home in this way. Cut into thin slices a red onion and put the slices on a baking pan covered with baking paper. The slices should not overlap. Bake in the conventional oven at 100° for at least 45 minutes. If the onion slices aren’t dry switch to the fan oven and bake until they are dry. Let them cool down and grind them in a blender. Keep in a closed glass jar.
