Vegan No-Fry Falafels

There really is no need to fry falafels. Brushing them with some olive oil and simply popping them in the oven makes them taste just as good. Research has shown that frying foods can lead to various chronic illnesses, therefore these vegan no-fry falafels avoid these risks whilst also being less hassle to make.

The most important thing is that they taste good! I'd like to think they do, but you'll just have to try them yourself to decide on this one. I like to serve mine on a bed of salad, in tortilla wraps or pitta bread with either a drizzle of tahini or houmous (I never know what the correct way of spelling 'houmous' is).

Ingredients: (makes 10-12) - 1/2 red onion - 4 cloves garlic - 1 can chickpeas (400g/240g drained) - 2 tbsp tahini - 2 tsp cumin - 2 tsp ground paprika - 2 tsp lemon juice - 1/2 tsp baking powder - 15 mint leaves (can sub with coriander or parsley or a combo!) - oil (very small quantity) - sesame seeds (optional) Method: 1. Put the red onion and garlic in a food processor and blitz them into small pieces.

2. Drain and rinse the chickpeas and add them to the food processor.

3. Add all the remaining ingredients (except the olive oil and sesame seeds) and blitz until you get a thick doughy mixture. It can still be a bit chunky.

4. Get heaped table spoons of the mixture and roll them into balls.

5. Pour out some sesame seeds onto a surface and roll the balls over them to make a pretty coating (this is totally optional but I like it!)

6. Place the balls in the fridge for at least half and hour.

7. When you want to bake the falafels, preheat the oven to 200degrees.

8. Drizzle over and coat the balls in a drop of olive oil before placing them on some baking parchment paper and popping them in the oven for 30minutes, until they’re golden.

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