Baked Falafel — Chickpea and Herb Patties

What you’ll need

Ingredients

Ingredient amounts make 4 servings. Nutrition below is for one serving.

• 240 g Dried uncooked chickpeas, weighed before soaking
• 100 g Onion, peeled
• 40 g Fresh parsley leaves and tender stems, washed and dried
• 30 g Fresh coriander leaves, washed and dried
• 12 g Garlic, peeled and minced
• 4 g Ground cumin
• 4 g Ground coriander seed
• 1 g Ground black pepper
• 3 g Fine salt
• 4 g Double-acting baking powder
• 30 g Olive oil
• 1200 ml Water, plus extra for washing or soaking as directed

Make it

Instructions

1. 1

   Cover the 240 g dried chickpeas with at least 1.2 litres water in a large bowl. Refrigerate for 18–24 hours, adding water if needed to keep them submerged. Drain, rinse and dry thoroughly. Do not boil or replace with canned chickpeas.

2. 2

   Roughly chop onion and herbs. Pulse drained chickpeas, onion, herbs, garlic, cumin, coriander, pepper and salt to a fine crumb that clumps when pressed; scrape the processor as needed. Avoid turning it into a smooth paste.

3. 3

   Cover and refrigerate the mixture for 60 minutes. Heat a conventional oven to 220°C (200°C fan). Mix in the baking powder just before shaping. Form 24 firmly packed patties, about 4 cm across and no more than 1.5 cm thick.

4. 4

   Use 15 g oil to grease a large metal tray and brush the remaining 15 g onto the patties. Bake 25–30 minutes, turning carefully after 15 minutes, until browned and cooked through. If the centre is wet or visibly raw, continue baking in 5-minute intervals; do not taste uncooked mixture.

5. 5

   Rest 5 minutes and serve 6 patties per person. Baked falafel has a different crust from deep-fried falafel. All 30 g oil and the original dry chickpea weight are included in the estimate; soaking water is discarded.