Green Pea Falafel

Green Pea Falafel

by Julius Fiedler

It's liberating to realise that culinary classics like falafel can be made not just with chickpeas or fava beans, but in fact with most legumes. After all, most traditional dishes have come from a place of necessity and availability, making use of what’s around but applying culinary wisdom that can be found in other parts of the world too. Here, Julius Fiedler of Baking Hermann, brings falafel to the UK with this recipe using British-grown split green peas.

To take it a step further, instead of serving the falafel with tahini (essentially a sesame seed butter) Julius uses sunflower seed butter and apple cider vinegar for a rich, albeit slightly (and strangely) sweet, sauce.

Julius has a number of innovative pulse recipes on his website and social, all worth trying, including Legume Tofu, Sprouted Lentils and Panelle! He is an ambassador for Slow Food UK and a tireless advocate for sustainable, nutritious food.

Serves 4

Ingredients

  • 200g Split Green Peas
  • 1 Onion
  • 5 Garlic Cloves
  • 1 Green Chilli
  • 50g Fresh Coriander
  • 50g Fresh Parsley
  • 1tsp Ground Cumin
  • 1tsp Ground Coriander
  • 1l Vegetable Oil, for frying
For Sunflower seed Sauce

Method

  1. To make the falafel, soak the dried peas overnight in 3x the amount of water.
  2. The next day, drain the peas and add them to the bowl of a food processor. Pulse them into a coarse pea flour, making sure not to grind them too finely, which would make the falafel rather dense. Tip out the peas and set aside.
  3. Peel and roughly chop the onion and garlic. Cut the chilli in half lengthways, remove the seeds and chop the rest into large pieces. Twist off the leafy bit of the coriander and parsley bunches and discard the stalks. Add the onions, garlic, chilli, coriander, parsley and 1 tsp salt to the bowl of a food processor and pulse until fine.
  4. Add the chopped aromatics to the peas along with the spices and use your hands to mix everything together. Then refrigerate for at least 15 minutes.
  5. Heat the vegetable oil to around 170°C. If you don’t have a thermometer, you can later use the first falafel to test the heat. In the meantime, with wet hands shape the mixture into around 16 falafel balls (30g each).
  6. To test the temperature of the oil only add one ball. It should turn golden within 2 minutes. If it takes longer, wait for the oil to become a bit hotter and test with another ball.
  7. Once the oil is hot fry 4-6 balls at a time for 4 minutes until they are crispy and dark golden. Make sure not to overcrowd the pan or they might fall apart.
  8. Place a few paper towels on a cooling rack. Once the falafel are cooked, place them on the paper towels to let any excess oil run off. Continue with the rest until all the balls are fried.
  9. In the meantime, make a quick sunflower seed sauce by mixing the sunflower seed butter, garlic and apple cider vinegar with 2 tbsp of water and 1/3 tsp salt. Mix it together until smooth and keep adding water until you can drizzle the sauce from a spoon. Dunk the falafel into the sauce and enjoy.



Julius Fiedler
Julius Fiedler

Author



Leave a comment

Comments will be approved before showing up.


Also in Recipes for Pulses, Grains, Seeds, Flakes, Flour, Ferments...

Mushy Pea, Parsnip & Potato Cakes
Mushy Pea, Parsnip & Potato Cakes

by The Cook and Him

These pea, parsnip and potato cakes from The Cook and Him are great for breakfast, lunch or dinner. Marrowfat peas are best known as the traditional pea for making mushy peas though they're also fantastic in soups, dips and casseroles.

Read More

Chocolate, Tahini & Brazil Nut Granola Bars
Chocolate, Tahini & Brazil Nut Granola Bars

by Amy Oboussier

A splendid diversity of flakes, nuts and seeds goes into these easy granola bars, easily adding up to over 12 plant species depending on the mix you choose. This is a great recipe to make with our Granola Bundles.

Read More

Cardamom & Brazil Nut Diversity Granola
Cardamom & Brazil Nut Diversity Granola

by Amy Oboussier

Boost your breakfast's diversity with this granola, packed with flaked grains, seeds and Brazil Nuts, and flavoured with sweet and fragrant vanilla and cardamom.

Read More