Last May, I had Falafel for the first time. It was delicious! I bought a box of Near East Falafel mix a couple of weeks ago and decided to mix it up as a birthday treat. They have instructions for making traditional Falafel on the stove and in the oven as patties. I went for the patties.
First thing to do was preheat the oven to 375F.
According to the directions, you mix the ingredient packet with 1-1/4 cup of water and let it sit for 10 minutes. I didn’t really want to make the whole box. The patties are only for me. What if they were gross? I’d be stuck with a dozen disgusting patties. But, I wasn’t sure how to reduce the water for a partial batch, so a full box it is! The information on the box said they freeze well, so I went for it.
I left the mixture alone for ten minutes. It thickened very quickly. Now I can see why the instructions say not to leave it too long. Much longer and it would be too dry for patties.
The next step was to form them into patties and put them on a cookie sheet. I didn’t have anything to oil the sheet. I assumed this was going to be messy to clean up so I used foil.
I spooned the mixture and plopped it onto the tray like cookie dough. Then, I shaped them. The instructions said to make two inch circles which seemed pretty small. Mine were a bit bigger though not as big as a normal burger.
Next up, slide them into the oven. I baked them for 15 minutes, then flipped them. This was not easy with the foil. Several fell apart and had to be reformed.
They didn’t look “golden brown” like the box stated, but I was afraid to leave them in too long. They were cooked enough as far as I was concerned. This is what the patties turned out like.
The foil turned out to be a really bad idea. Most of the patties stuck. I scraped off as much as I could to make crumbles. I’m glad I used foil because this would have been a pain to clean up otherwise.
The finished Falafel patties were pretty good! They have a distinctive garlic flavor. Maybe a little too strong for me. This is something I could eat once a week but I don’t think my stomach could handle it more often. I ate two for dinner, then froze the rest. Now I’ve got patties for the upcoming weeks.
Here is the finished meal with veggies and topped with plain vegan yogurt (homemade)
Psst…if you’re interested in making your own vegan yogurt, I’ve written up instruction on the process. My recipe is for unsweetened yogurt, but you can sweeten it and add flavors if you like.
