Tuesday 9 November 2010

Broad Bean Felafel Fritters

My broad bean experimentation continued with another recipe from the same Sydney Morning Herald article (Caroline Velik, Spring Means Beans, 28/9/10). This time for Broad bean felafel fritters with minted yoghurt. I never got around to making the minted yoghurt as I had plenty of homemade cheese that I was experimenting with at this time.

These delicious fritters combine broad beans with chickpeas. Chickpeas are low gi and help to counteract the medium gi rating of the broadbeans, making these fritters a low gi treat.

I was Really Surprised at how much I loved these. They are absolutely delicious. I would love to make these for most of the year. Sadly the broad bean season is quite short, so I bought another kilo of broad beans today, so I can enjoy another batch of these soon. Best thing is my husband doesn't like chickpeas, has convinced himself that he doensn't like broad beans either, so I get to eat all of these without any competition.

Broad Bean Felafel Fritters

1kg fresh broad beans
400g tin chickpeas, drained and rinsed
1 cup loosely packed coriander (cilantro) leaves
1 cup loosely packed mint leaves
Sea salt and freshly ground black pepper
1 clove garlic, minced
1 tsp ground coriander
1 tsp ground cumin
1 red chilli, seeded and sliced
1/2 lemon, zest and juice
1/2 cup plain flour for dusting
Vegetable oil for frying

Remove broad beans from their outer shells. Bring a pot of water to the boil, add beans and cook for a couple of minutes until soft. Remove and drain. Peel off outer pod and set aside. Put beans and chickpeas in a food processor and pulse to combine.




Add coriander, mint, salt, pepper, garlic, spices, lemon zest and juice and pulse until finely chopped.



Use your hands to shape the mixture into 10-12 small patties, then lightly dust with flour to coat.


Heat oil in a large frying pan and cook fritters on both sides until lightly browned. Drain on paper towel and set aside. 



The picture suggestion in the original article just had the fritters, with minted yoghurt served with a rocket salad. I decided to make a wrap, with avocado, rocket, grape kumatos, and homemade soft cheese. It was fantastic. The fritters are so light and fresh tasting compared to regular felafels. Wonderful. These fritters are absolutely delicious. If you're trying to eat low GI or not. They're just delicious, my favourite sort of low GI experience- food that you'd choose to eat regardless.


Notes
The minted yoghurt was just 1 cup plain yoghurt, mixed with 2 tblsp shredded mint leaves.
These could be gluten free if you use a gluten free flour at the end, and using a gluten free wrap obviously. 

6 comments:

  1. Love this! For two years I used to eat an entire bowl of broad beans every night (frozen ones, which I didn't double pod...) but I weaned myself off them. This looks like an acceptable "normal" way to reintroduce the little tasty blighters into my day... :P

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  2. How many does this recipe serve, Louise?

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  3. I just calculated how many Weight Watchers points this recipe would be and it comes to 6 (if the recipe serves 4). But that doesn't include the yoghurt, and I think if you were trying to lose weight your wrap is a better choice.

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  4. Hannah, I think broad beans is one of the more unusual addictions. Wait til I blog the roasted broadbeans! Salty, tasty morsels....

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  5. Lisa, it did make 12 patties when I made it. I only ate 2 at a time. 3 was too many on a wrap. So I think it would serve 6 that way. That would make it 4 points maybe? Although I guess if you just had fritters and salad, then you would need 3 fritters. And a little gloop of yoghurt wouldn't be that much would it?

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  6. Thanks starwind. I feel a bit disadvantaged at your site! Looks interesting though.

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