Beetroot is packed with antioxidants and vitamins and is lovely grated raw with apples and carrots and sprinkled with lemon juice, this recipe makes the falafel purple, which gives them a real ‘wow’ factor. I have used tinned chickpeas as they are easy, you can use dried but make sure you cook them thoroughly.
Ingredients: for 10-12 falafel
1 teaspoon coriander seeds
1 teaspoon cumin seeds
Good pinch of sea salt
400g can chickpeas
1 beetroot, uncooked, peeled and grated
1 fresh red chilli, deseeded and finely chopped
1 garlic clove, chopped
1 tablespoon chopped fresh coriander
1 egg
150ml live yoghurt
1 tablespoon tahini paste
Juice of 2 lemons
Chopped lettuce, tomatoes and cucumber to serve
4 wholemeal pitta or flatbread
How to make beetroot falafel…. WASH YOUR HANDS
- Heat up a frying pan, add the coriander and cumin seeds and dry fry for 1-2 minutes until fragrant but not browned. Place the coriander and cumin seeds in a pestle and mortar and roughly grind, transfer to a food processor.
- Add the salt, chickpeas, beetroot, red chili, garlic, coriander and egg and process until ground but not pureed.
- Form into walnut sized balls, place in the fridge to firm up for 1 hour.
- Preheat the oven to 190c/gas 5/AGA roasting oven shelf on second set of runners and bake the falafel on a greased baking tray for 8-12 minutes until golden brown.
- Mix the yoghurt, tahini paste and the juice of 2 lemons with a little water to form a thick sauce.
- Warm the pittas, slice the pittas open, share the falafel between them stuff with salad and drizzle with
tahini sauce and eat warm.
tahini sauce and eat warm.