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Welcome back to Video Jug and the food for all series.
My name is Pippa, author of the intolerant gourmet, and in this episode, I am going to
show you how to make gluten free, dairy free, egg free baked falafel in lettuce pitta with
maple tahini sauce.
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First step of this recipe is all really simple.
We are going to use a food processor, and I'm just going to blitz it all together, and
that takes any of the faff out of finely chopping the chick peas.
So, we have a tin of chick peas, drained and rinsed, we place those into the food processor.
Next is two teaspoons of garlic oil.
I like to use garlic oil because it's got a subtler flavor than raw garlic cloves.
And as you're just going to bake this from fresh, it makes a real difference.
And we've got half a red onion, roughly chopped, just throw it in there.
And, a little bit, again, of roughly chopped flat leaf parsley.
For a full list of ingredients just check the description box.
And next we are going to add half a teaspoon of baking powder, and this just helps give
the falafel a tiny little bit of oomf, which is what you want.
And then we've got a mixture of herbs and spices.
We've got smoked paprika which adds a lovely smoky flavor, we've got cumin and we've got
coriander and a pinch of sea salt.
Finally, we add two teaspoons of your favorite sauce.
This can be chili jam, or it could be tahini, or it could be a hot sauce, it's whatever
you favor.
It just adds a nice bit of depth and flavor.
It won't overpower the falafel, it just gives a nice addition.
And then we just pulse it.
You want the chick peas to become really finely chopped.
You might have to scrape down the sides and points just to make sure that everything's
grinding together.
You want it to be a paste, but with a bit of texture.
So, a coarse paste would be a good description.
And as I said, we'll just scrape down the sides just to make sure that you've got any
loose bits and pieces mixed in.
And then one last blitz.
You'll be able to smell already the spice mixture, which although really simple, it's
got a great kind of Ottoman, like Moroccan, Persian flavor.
So, we get a mixing bowl, and we'll just wipe down the blade, get that out of the way.
And take the falafel paste, which is what it is at the moment, and just scrape it in.
The next step is so incredibly easy.
You'll just want to bind your falafel mixture by adding a flour, but obviously we want gluten
free flour, and this is where gram flower comes in.
Gram flour is chickpea flour, you can use it to make soca which is a French bread, you
can also use it in pancake mixtures or for baking, but of course it's perfect for falafel
because it's chick peas and chick peas.
So we take our gram flour, I'd say three to four tablespoons, but it really depends on
how much moisture is in your chick peas, and how moist your mixture is.
But you want it to be bound together, so we'll start with three, and then stir it together
and see what kind of texture it is.
You just want it to still be slightly tacky but hold together nicely, so you can shape
it into little patties.
And for this recipe we're going to bake the falafel, which isn't your usual option, normally
we fry falafel, and you could do that with this mixture as well, but I prefer to do it
in the oven.
I think it's got a nice flavor, and although it looks a little less golden, it tastes just
as delicious.
So that's four tablespoons of gram four, and then you'll see that the mixture is holding
together but still a paste, which is about right.
We're taking about a walnut size amount, and you'll see that it's quite tacky, that's totally
fine.
If you're having a problem with it you can just oil your hands with a little bit of olive
oil which will help them slide off.
And again we're going to place it on an oiled baking tray to cook.
So, just shape it into a little ball and place it on your baking tray, and you can flatten
it slightly but you really want them to be like little mini patties.
And they won't spread when you bake them so you can really place them quite close together.
So I'm just going to carry on making this falafel until we've used all the mixture up,
and then put it on the baking tray, and then it's into the oven at two hundred degrees
for about twenty five to thirty minutes.
So our falafel are out of the oven, they've been in there for about thirty minutes, and
I flipped them over halfway through so that they brown evenly.
You'll see that they brown top to bottom rather than around the edges, but it's all crisp
because of the gram flour inside them.
So we'll let those cool for a little bit, and then we're going to make our tahini maple
dressing.
So in this bowl I've got a really simple mixture of maple syrup and tahini.
Into that we're going to add the juice of half a lemon and depending on the size or
the juiciness of your lemon you can add a little bit more or a little bit less, and
dressings are so much to your own taste, so trust your own instinct if you like the way
it tastes and the texture then go with that.
So stir the lemon juice in just until it's combined.
And then we have about a tablespoon of garlic oil, and again, it's intense garlic, but it
doesn't burn you like raw garlic would so it's a nice combination to have.
And just stir that through until it's all emulsified.
And there's our tahini maple dressing made, you can see it's all glossy and thick, and
perfect for going into the lettuce pitta with the falafel.
So place two or three of the baked falafel into your lettuce cup, let's do three for
this, and if you have any chopped tomato, or chopped avocado or extra fresh herbs, you
can add those at this point, the more color the better really, grated beetroot, all sorts.
And then we spoon over a little bit of the tahini and maple dressing, which acts as a
kind of sauce for your pitta.
And then you curve up the lettuce cups like this and you have a ready made pitta for your
falafel or kebabs or a burger, perfect for summertime.
I'm going to go ahead and enjoy this, and hope to see you next time on the food for
all series.
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