Thursday, March 13, 2014

Crockpot Falafel

I was a little bit surprised that this worked as well as it did.  I should have used a food processor to make the chickpeas more fine but other than that I was really happy with the results!

Thanks to Stephanie O'Dea from Crockpot 365!  She's my crockpot hero.

Crockpot Falafel

1 (15-ounce) can garbanzo beans (chick peas)
1/2 onion, finely chopped (I used a yellow onion, red is okay too, if you like that flavor)
1 tablespoon dried parsley (dry is better than fresh because it's too wet)
2 cloves minced garlic
1 egg
1 teaspoon kosher salt
1/4 teaspoon black pepper
2 teaspoons ground cumin
1 teaspoon ground coriander
1/4 teaspoon cayenne pepper
 juice from 1 lemon (that's a lemon. a weird looking lemon, but a lemon nonetheless)
1/2 to 3/4 cup bread crumbs (I have gluten free crumbs made from a loaf of brown rice bread that I keep in the freezer)
2 tablespoons olive oil (for the bottom of your crock)


The Directions.

Take a deep breath. It looks like there are a lot of ingredients, but this comes together awfully quick. I seriously only spent 25 minutes from start to finish. The hardest part was getting all the spice bottles arranged for the photo.

Drain garbanzo beans. Dump them into a mixing bowl and smash them with a fork. Set aside.

Get out your blender or food processor (I used our vitamix. I love that thing!). Blend together all of the spices, the onion, the garlic, the egg, and the lemon juice.

Pour on top of your smashed garbanzo beans. Use your fork to mix together, and add the breadcrumbs slowly until the mixture is wet and sticky but can be formed into balls nicely. I needed 3/4 of a cup of breadcrumbs.


Pour 2 T of olive oil into the bottom of your crockpot stoneware insert.

Form squished golf-ball sized patties of falafel. Dip each side into the olive oil and then nestle into your crockpot. It's okay if they overlap or are on top of each other.

Cook on high for 2-5 hours. Ours cooked on high for 3.5 hours--you will know that the falafels are done when they turn brownish-golden. You can flip them halfway through the cooking time if you feel like it, but they will brown on top even without flipping. (I know. I don't get it either.)

Serve with yogurt sauce or mayonnaise. I made a quick yogurt sauce with Greek yogurt, celery seed, dill, salt and pepper and lemon juice.