Contributing Recipes Editor, Terry Laybourne, and his York based head chef, Salvatore Soru, share Café 21’s latest recipe with Portfolio North.
Serves 4
These are a delicious, lighter alternative to the traditional chickpea version.
I tend to serve the falafels as a light main course in a salad, but they would work just as well as a standalone snack, or even a canape if rolled a little smaller.
If you wanted to make in larger batches, they freeze pretty well too.
Ingredients
For the pickled onion
This can be done ahead of time in large batches and used for all sorts of other dishes
200g finely sliced red onion
100 mls red wine vinegar
100 mls water
100g castor sugar
For the falafels
400g frozen broad beans
1 large clove of garlic, peeled and grated
5g ground coriander
5g ground cumin
5g cayenne pepper
20g parsley roughly chopped
20g dill roughly chopped
20g coriander roughly chopped
1/2 bunch spring onions, finely chopped
120g breadcrumbs
Vegetable oil for deep frying or a deep fat fryer at 180°c
Salt to taste
For the dressing
150ml cold pressed rape seed oil
30mls good quality white wine vinegar
Squeeze of lemon juice
Salt and freshly ground black pepper
For the salad
400g hummus – a good quality shop bought one is fine
2 handfuls of picked flat leaf parsley, dill and mint
100g cooked, podded broad beans
Method
For the pickled onion
In a small saucepan, bring the vinegar, water and sugar to a gentle boil and stir until the sugar has dissolved. Leave to cool for 20 minutes, it should still be warm, and add the onion.
Drain off the liquid as and when needed.
For the falafels
In a pan of boiling water, cook the broad beans for 2 minutes, refresh and drain well.
Add all the ingredients to a food processor and blitz, occasionally scraping the sides of the bowl.
Do not blitz too smooth, just until it comes together. We need a bit of texture to the final mix.
Check the seasoning.
Roll into 30g balls and deep fry for 3 minutes or so, until golden brown.
For the dressing
Whisk all the ingredients together
To serve
Spoon the hummus between 4 plates and arrange a few falafels.
In a large bowl, toss the herbs, broad beans, pickled onion together, season well and dress with the dressing.
Build some of this on top of the falafels, slipping in another falafel or two as you go.
Finish with a little more dressing and enjoy on a warm summer’s day with a cold, crisp glass of rosé.
