Baked Falafels, and Rosemary & Garlic Sweet Potato Stacks

I had a friend round for tea tonight, and while it was rainy, it was quite warm outside, so I decided to make something summery and healthy... and it went down quite well I think!

There's a little more work to these recipes than I usually post, but its worth it.

I made the falafels and cooked them immediately, but I think they would taste better if you left the mix to mellow for a few hours in the fridge. Make your garlic oil for the sweet potatoes at the same time for the flavours to blend, especially when using dried rosemary.

The great thing about these dishes is that they cook and are ready at the same time, so no fiddling about with times!

Baked Falafels:

Makes around 30.

Cost:  £3 (10p each)

Ingredients:

1 red onion, chopped roughly

2-3 cloves garlic

1 small bunch parsley, roughly chopped

1 small bunch coriander, roughly chopped

Juice of 1 lemon

1 tsp cumin powder

Seasoning

2 tins chickpeas, drained

~ 4 tbsp flour (wheat or gluten free) to bind

Method:

Place everything except the chickpeas and flour into a food processor and pulse until you have a smoothish paste (this may take a while depending on how roughly you have chopped your herbs, as they can get tangled on the spindle and you may need to stop it to untangle them!)

Once you have a paste, add the chickpeas and a little oil.

Pulse until the chickpeas are incorporated into the mix.

Check the texture of the mix. If it is too wet, add flour little by little and pulse, until you get a firmish, yet still wet paste. (Think thicker than cake mix, but not as thick as dough)

Let it sit and mellow for a few hours in the fridge.

Line a few cookie trays with greaseproof paper.

Put dessert spoon sized blobs (for want of a better word)  onto the trays.

Bake at 200c for about half an hour, or until the outside becomes crunchy.

Alternatively you can fry them.

Sweet potato stacks:

Makes ~20 stacks, or 5 servings 

Cost: ~£1.25 for 20, or 30p per portion.

Ingredients:

2 medium sweet potatoes

For the oil:

 100ml vegetable oil

2-3 cloves garlic

1tbsp dried rosemary

salt and pepper.

Method:

Combine oil, garlic, rosemary and seasoning in a jar. 

Let sit for a couple hours to let the flavour emerge.

Wash and dry the sweet potatoes.

Don't bother peeling them.

Use a mandolin, or slice very thinly, both sweet potatoes.

If waiting a while, soak the potatoes in cold water until you need them.

Drain the sweet potatoes.

Make 15-20 stacks from the sliced potatoes on trays lined with greaseproof paper.

Drizzle stacks with the flavoured oil.

Bake for 30 minutes @ 200c

I served these with the rice salad on my previous post.