The paparazzi caught me last Sunday buying herbs from the glorious Sweet Mart in Easton.
Easton in Bristol has three mosques, several churches, one synagogue and one Sikh temple
– in other words my sort of town.
I was buying the herbs to make falafel for a family meal on Easter Monday.
I had spotted the recipe in my mum’s Claudia Roden international Jewish cookery book – I was very taken with it because it uses herbs, and butter beans instead of the traditional chick peas.
Here is my version of the wonderful Claudia Roden‘s recipe
Soak 500g of butter beans overnight and cook for a good hour.
Drain the beans (Claudia says pat them dry too)
Blend the drained beans in a food processor until they become a smooth puree.
Add chopped up onion and garlic, (Claudia says use 8 spring onions instead of onion) and ground spices such as chilli, ground cumin and coriander
(Claudia says 2 tsp of cumin and 2 tsp of ground coriander)
Add washed and drained herbs – I used fresh coriander, mint and fennel (see armfuls above).
Leave the paste for an hour or so to settle.
Then roll into balls
Deep fry and serve with homemade hummus, yogurt with garlic and mint, and grated carrot salad.
My falafel did not turn into hard crispy little balls. I think because
a) I used lots of herbs so they go too wet b) I hate deep-frying so did not use enough oil.
Despite not being crisp, they were
…DELICIOUS
(and even better cold at midnight).
Real Food Lover 