Black bean falafels
I make my own falafels once a week, so I like experimenting with different ingredients. This time I combined chickpeas with black beans and added Mexican spices to the blend. The result was really tasty! I made these vegan & gluten-free black bean falafels with pre-cooked chickpeas; if you use pre-soaked chickpeas, the result will be more crunchy. Serve them as part of a healthy salad or wrapped in tortilla/flatbread with salsa – or as party nibbles. I love snacking on them during the day dipped, in guacamole or hummus.
Ingredients
Method
- Finely chop the onion and garlic.
- In a mixing bowl, combine the drained chickpeas, garlic, onion, spices, salt pepper and pastes. Put the mixture into a food processor and whiz, scraping down the sides of the food processor as necessary.
- Add the black beans and fresh coriander leaves. Pulse again until you get a sticky, coarse texture. Transfer the mixture into a bowl.
- Add the flaxseed paste and the chickpea flour. Combine well, cover the bowl and chill for 2 hours.
- When you’re ready to cook the falafels, take the mixture out of the fridge. Form small patties. If the mixture doesn’t stick together properly, add more chickpea flour.
- Heat some grapeseed oil in a small, deep pan – the depth of the oil should be about 3 cm. Fry 4-5 patties at a time, for about 2-3 minutes on each side, until golden brown.
- Transfer the falafels onto a plate, lined with paper kitchen towels.
- Fry more falafels, using up the mixture. Add more oil to the pan as necessary.