Falafel Burgers

Step 1

In a skillet, heat up 1 tablespoon water, when hot add the onions and sauté over medium heat. Cook, stirring frequently, until the onions soften, about 5 minutes. Add garlic, cumin. coriander and carrot, and cook until soft 3-4 minutes more, adding more water as needed to keep mixture from sticking. Transfer the mixture to a large bowl. If I am in a hurry I will just add all the onions, garlic and carrots at the beginning and proceed, adding the cumin and coriander the last few minutes. It works fine that way too.

Step 2

Drain and rinse the garbanzo beans and process them in a food processor until they are chopped but not pureed. If you process them too much you will have hummus! If you don’t have a food processor use a potato masher. Add the chopped or mashed beans to the onion mixture, add tahini or peanut butter if using and cilantro or parsley. In a smaller bowl, combine the flour, baking powder cayenne pepper and black pepper. Add flour mixture to the bean mixture and stir well.

Step 3

Form the chickpea mixture into equal size patties. See the video for an easy way to make perfect patties. If they are soft and too delicate to handle easily cover with plastic wrap and refrigerate for 30 minutes before cooking. Makes 15 small patties or 8 large ones.

Step 4

Heat a non stick skillet over medium-heat – turn the heat to medium-low, add the falafel patties leaving enough space between them to easily turn them over. I cook them about 4 minutes per side - that is what works with my pan and my stove top.

Step 5

When the first side is lightly browned, turn the patties over and cook another 4 minutes or until lightly browned. Repeat with the rest of the patties.

Step 6

If you want to bake them instead of browning them in a skillet you can preheat the oven to 375 degrees. Place the patties on a sheet pan lined with parchment. Bake for 10 minutes or until lightly browned, turn over and bake for another 10 minutes. I have not tried this myself with this recipe. I have never had good luck baking veggie patties - I much prefer to brown them in a non stick skillet. I feel like they get less dried out when cooked on the stove top.