Vegan Spinach & Sesame Falafels
Falafels are so underrated. Crisp on the outside, soft and melt-in-the-mouth in the centre, and the flavour combos are endless. This spinach and sesame flavour is just like your classic falafel flavour but with a little added goodness (I promise you can’t taste the spinach at all!). Perfectly paired with creamy avocado, freshly chopped salad, and pearl barley or rice.
Serves: 5-6 | Total Cooking Time: 50 minutes
Ingredients
2x cans of chickpeas, drained (should weigh 480g all together)
1 white onion, diced
30g wholegrain spelt flour
100g spinach
2x garlic cloves
2 tsp ground cumin
2 tsp paprika
Sesame seeds to coat
Instructions
Pre-heat your oven to 180ºC, fan and line a oven-proof dish with baking powder.
Start by draining your chickpeas and wilting your spinach. To wilt the spinach, place the spinach in a large bowl boil some water in a kettle. Pour the boiling water over the spinach and allow it to sit in the water for a few minutes, stirring with a spoon until the spinach shrivels down and reduces in size. Drain the spinach and water in a colander and squish all the water out of the spinach with the back of a spoon. Doing this helps to get rid of the oxalates in the spinach, which can inhibit the absorption of important nutrients in your food, like calcium, if not discarded.
Next, place the chickpeas, diced onion, garlic cloves and spices into a food processor and pulse until well combined and thick.
Add in your spinach and wholegrain flour and pulse again.
Place your falafel batter into the oven proof dish and flatten with the back of a spoon. Or if you want more traditional shaped falafels, roll the mixture into meatball-sized balls using the palms of your hand, then place individually into the baking dish.
Bake in the oven for roughly 25 minutes.
Once cooked, serve with some salad or roasted vegetables, rice, quinoa, or pearl barley, and some sliced avocado or drizzle of tahini! These falafels can be stored in the fridge in an air-tight container for up to 5 days, or frozen for up to a month. Enjoy!.
If you do make this recipe let me know by sharing a photo with me! I would love more than anything to see your creations.
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