Turning Veganese

I love me some falafel. I am so happy it’s vegan. Falafel is ground chickpeas that are seasoned, formed into balls (heehee… balls) or patties and then deep-fried. Chickpeas are yummy, versatile, and seriously nutritious. I refer to them as garbanzo beans. Growing up, garbanzos were added to some Filipino dishes such as menudo.

I had never noticed garbanzo flour in the grocery store until I sought it out after seeing (or rather, smelling) something delicious that one of my co-workers brought for lunch. I grabbed some Bob’s Red Mill Garbanzo Bean Flour, which is even more versatile than the bean itself. You can use it in place of traditional flour for baking. You can also use it to make hummus and falafel.

I decided to try making falafel patties. After all, the recipe was on the package and I had all the ingredients. So… why not? Visit their site for the recipe, which is super easy and great for experimentation. I opted to fry some of the patties in safflower oil and bake the rest. The ones in the back are fried; the ones up front that seriously look like peanut butter cookies were baked (in the toaster oven, natch’).

These were so easy to make. The fried ones had a better texture and were slightly – very slightly more delicious, but the baked ones were great, too. There’s really no way to go wrong with this recipe.

I didn’t have any pita so I ate them with white rice, which is always available in my house. We had leftover hot sauce from a pita place, which was GREAT. So what will I do differently next time? I’ll use fresh ingredients next time: parsley, cilantro, garlic. Definitely more garlic, as well as a tad more salt. And I’ll buy or make some tahini next time, too. Oh, delicious.

I can’t wait to use the garbanzo bean flour to make other foods! Yay. Happy eating, everyone… Melissa