Baked Beetroot Falafel

Christmas and the new year festivities are sadly over…sigh.

But after a few indulgent weeks, we’re both ready to get back to a healthy and balanced diet with lots of lovely nutritious meals.

These beetroot falafels are packed with lots of good stuff, including iron and omega-3 fatty acids, and baking is a great way to reduce the calorie count.

You can serve these however you like. We usually go for wholemeal pitta, sliced veggies, hummus, chilli sauce and garlic sauce.

Don’t worry if you can’t find vegan-friendly garlic sauce. You can easily make your own using soya yoghurt and diced garlic.

Enjoy!

Roxy & Ben

Baked Beetroot Falafel

Servings: 5 people

Ingredients

• 200 g raw beetroot (roughly chopped)
• 400g tinned chickpeas (drained, rinsed and dried)
• 1/2 brown onion (roughly chopped)
• 4 garlic cloves (roughly chopped)
• large handful of parsley
• 1/4 cup walnuts
• 80 g breadcrumbs
• zest of half a lemon
• 2 tsp ground cumin
• large pinch of salt & pepper
• 2 tsp olive oil

To serve

• 5 wholemeal pittas
• hummus
• mixed leaves
• cucumber (sliced)
• tomato (sliced)
• red onion (sliced)
• chilli sauce
• garlic sauce

Servings: 5 people Ingredients 200 g raw beetroot (roughly chopped) 400g tinned chickpeas (drained, rinsed and dried) 1/2 brown onion (roughly chopped) 4 garlic cloves (roughly chopped) large handful of parsley 1/4 cup walnuts 80 g breadcrumbs zest of half a lemon 2 tsp ground cumin large pinch of salt & pepper 2 tsp olive oil To serve 5 wholemeal pittas hummus mixed leaves cucumber (sliced) tomato (sliced) red onion (sliced) chilli sauce garlic sauce

Instructions

1. Preheat the oven to 200°C or 390°F and line a baking tray with greaseproof paper.
2. Transfer all the falafel ingredients to a food processor. Then pulse the ingredients a few times until they have broken down but the mixture is still quite rough.
3. Take a small handful of the falafel mixture and compress it into a ball roughly the size of a golf ball, then transfer to the baking tray. Repeat this step until all of the falafel mixture has been used up and pressed into balls. You should be left with 15 or so falafel balls.
4. Place the tray with the falafel balls in the preheated oven for 25 minutes.
5. Meanwhile heat the pittas in the oven for a few minutes or in the toaster. Then slice open the pitta breads on one side and fill with a spread of hummus, a few pieces of mixed leaves and slices of cucumber, tomato and red onion.
6. Remove the falafels from the oven and and place 3 in each pitta.
7. Serve with a drizzle of chilli sauce and garlic sauce.