We love falafel and often have falafel cravings.  Sometimes we go ahead and make it at home and since we are not big fans of deep frying we experimented with baking or air frying.  In general, it’s hard to make a bad falafel, but the process can be a bit too involved to our liking.  What if making a falafel can be as easy as making an omelette?

One of our tribesmen has an egg allergy and we are always on the lookout for interesting recipes and substitutes for eggs.  We came across this fantastic hack by chance while looking for an eggless recipe for an omelette.  It turns out that vegan omelette is made with chickpea flour. We went ahead and made an omelette which turned out very tasty, but this gave us an idea!  What if we made it with all of the spices that are used to make falafel balls? Lo and behold—partly because of the chickpea flour and partly because of the kind of spices that I used—we had quick and tasty falafel cake!

What is a falafel cake?

The distinct difference between a regular falafel ball and what we ended up making is the consistency of the batter.  A falafel mix is very thick and allows you to make firm falafel balls, while our is a consistency of a pancake batter and we just pan fry it.

We chose to fry small cakes (about 2″), but you can make them smaller or bigger to fit your pita, bun, or bread of choice.

We only had bread on hand and we used that for our delicious falafel sandwich along with some tahini, hot sauce, and fresh veggies.

This recipe is very forgiving.  Add the water slowly but there is no right or wrong you may just end up with a thinner or denser cake.  You can add baking powder or yeast for a fluffier cake, you can play around with the spices to your liking.  If you like falafel, I am sure you will be satisfied with it.

I tried making it with canned chickpeas and it was a disaster that ended up going into the oven for crisping.  It was still tasted like falafel although it looked like a hot mess.  If you only have canned chickpeas I suggest you make patties and bake them in the oven.

If you don’t have chickpea flour, make your own.  Throw dried chickpeas in a food processor or grinder and grind it to a fine consistency.

Below is how we made it.  Give it a try and let us know if you found ways to make it even better!

Falafel cakes

• 1 cup chickpea flour
• 1/2 – 3/4 cup of water or chickpea cooking water (as needed)
• 1/4 tsp baking powder (optional)
• cumin, ground coriander, garlic powder, onion powder, turmeric, salt, pepper to taste
• fresh coriander

Mix all dry ingredients, add water slowly until you have a thick batter. Add fresh herbs if using, mix, and let the batter sit at room temperature for about 10 minutes to half an hour.

Coat a skillet with a thin layer of oil (we use avocado oil).  Fry the falafel cakes on medium heat until brown on both sides. 

I am getting hungry just thinking about it and I hope you are just as excited about this as I am.

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