The Ultimate Homemade Falafel Pittas

Ingredients

For the falafel

• 500g 500g chickpeas dried
• 1 onion roughly chopped
• 3 cloves garlic finely chopped
• 1 bunch fresh parsley roughly chopped
• 1 bunch fresh coriander roughly chopped
• 2 tbsp plain flour
• 2 heaped tsp cumin
• 1 heaped tsp cayenne pepper
• Salt
• Pepper

For the salad

• 4 tomatoes finely chopped
• 1 cucumber peeled and roughly chopped
• 1 bunch of mint
• 1 lemon juice only
• Parsley (Use leftover from falafel)

For the assembly

• 4 pittas
• Hummus
• Pickled green chillies

Method

1. Pour dried chickpeas into a bowl, cover with warm water and soak overnight.
2. Preheat oven to 180°C/gas mark 4. Start with the falafel mix. Into a blender, add the dried chickpeas (soaked overnight), onion, garlic, coriander, a large handful of parsley (reserve a handful for the salad), flour, cumin and cayenne pepper. Season with salt and pepper.
3. Pulse the mixture in the blender. You want the texture of the mix to be rough so don’t overdo it. 3-5 second pulses should do the trick.
4. Check the falafel mixture can stick in a ball. If it is too loose, just add a bit more flour.
5. Once you are able to stick the mixture together, make little discs, around 4cm wide and 3cm deep. Line up the discs on a sheet of baking paper, and put them in the fridge for 10 minutes to firm up. The mixture should make about 20 discs.
6. Salad time. Put the tomatoes into a bowl, then add the cucumber. Add a handful of chopped mint, a handful of chopped parsley, the juice of a lemon, salt, pepper, olive oil. Mix everything together and set aside.
7. Falafel time. We have designed two options for you. The first is baked falafel – less crunch than the fried version, but much healthier. For this option, line a baking tray with baking paper, and place your falafel on the paper. Drizzle lightly with olive oil on one side, and then turn over the falafel and drizzle olive oil on the other side. Pat in the oil with your fingers, and then place in the oven for 30 minutes, flipping the falafel after 20 minutes.
8. The fried option is a bit more unhealthy, but much crunchier. For this, take a wide frying pan and pour in some sunflower oil. You should pour in enough that it comes up by 1.5cm in the pan. Heat up the oil. To check it is hot enough, just put in a tiny bit of leftover falafel mixture. When it starts bubbling, you are good to go. Place your falafels in the pan, and cook for 5-6 minutes on each side, or until each side is brown and crisp. When ready, remove falafels from the pan and place on some kitchen paper. Put some kitchen paper on top of them, and pat off the oil.
9. Assembly time. Warm your pittas. Layer one side with a generous helping of hummus. Spoon in some of the salad. Then, take your baked or fried falafels and break them into the pittas – squeeze in 4 or 5 discs into each one. Put some pickled green chillies on top, then spoon over a bit more hummus. Enjoy!