Baked falafels with quinoa tabouleh

Ingredients

Quinoa tabouleh

• 50 g (¼ cup) quinoa, rinsed*
• 125 ml (½ cup) water
• 3 tomatoes, diced
• 2 bunches flat-leaf (Italian) parsley, leaves picked, (2 cups finely chopped leaves)
• 3 spring onions (scallions), chopped
• ½ cup finely chopped leaves)
• 60 g (⅓ cup) pomegranate seeds
• 60 ml (¼ cup) extra virgin olive oil
• Juice of 3 lemons
• ¼ tsp Himalayan salt, or to taste
• ½ red chilli (optional), finely chopped

Tahini sauce

• 125 g (½ cup) tahini
• 1 garlic clove, crushed
• Juice of 1 lemon
• ¼ tsp Himalayan salt, or to taste
• ¼ tsp hot paprika (optional)

Falafels

• 100 g (½ cup) quinoa, rinsed*
• 200 g (1 cup) dried chickpeas, soaked in cold water for 8–10 hours
• 5 garlic cloves, peeled
• 2 large brown onions, roughly chopped
• 1 bunch flat-leaf (Italian) parsley, stems removed (1 cup picked leaves)
• 1 bunch coriander (cilantro), stems removed (½ cup picked leaves)
• 2 tbsp sesame seeds
• ¾ tsp ground cumin
• ½ tsp Himalayan salt
• ¼ tsp freshly ground black pepper
• ¼ tsp hot paprika
• 1 tsp bicarbonate of soda (baking soda)

To serve

• 1 long red chilli, sliced (optional)
• cornichons or small gherkins (optional)
• iceberg lettuce cups or gluten-free flat breads, to serve

Method

*You’ll need two lots of quinoa – for the falafels and the tabouleh, so cook it all up at the same time. Bring 150 grams (¾ cup) of quinoa in 310 millilitres (1¼ cups) water to the boil over medium–high heat. Cover, reduce the heat and simmer for 5 to 8 minutes, or until just cooked. Allow to cool. Use ⅔ in the falafels, and the rest in the tabouleh.
Place ⅓ of the cooked and cooled quinoa in a large bowl. Add the tomatoes, parsley, spring onion, mint and pomegranate seeds. In a small bowl, whisk together the olive oil, lemon juice and salt, adding the chilli if you like extra kick. Drizzle over the tabouleh and toss together. Set aside.

For the tahini sauce: in a bowl, vigorously whisk the tahini and ½ cup water with a fork. Whisk in the garlic, lemon juice, salt and paprika, if using. Set aside.
Preheat the oven to 170°C and line a baking tray with baking paper.

Rinse the chickpeas, then pulse in a food processor until broken down into small crumbs. Add the rest of the quinoa (⅔ of your total cooked amount), garlic, onion, parsley and coriander and process until well combined. Transfer the mixture to a bowl and add the remaining falafel ingredients. Mix together well. Using your hands (you may want to slip on some food-handling gloves), roll the mixture into 8 to 10 small balls, the size of golf balls. Gently flatten the tops, into a dome shape and place on the lined baking tray and bake for 40 to 45 minutes, or until golden and cooked through.

The falafels are best served immediately. They can be stored in the fridge and gently reheated, but won’t be as tasty.)

Serve the falafels and tabouleh with the tahini sauce for drizzling over, with your choice of accompaniments.

This recipe is from Taline Gabrielian’s new book Hippie Lane, The Cookbook published by Murdoch Books and available at all good bookstores. $39.99.

NEXT: Try her delicious baked pumpkin today.