Falafel Burgers

My food journey this week had me reminiscing my fabulous time in Sicily and just how much I miss it. A few years ago on a hot summer’s day, my friends and I were sitting in a café (but I think it was more of a “healthy” fast food place) in an alley enjoying each others company. I think our aim was to go to this place because it sold cheap beer and we all know how refreshing ice cold beer is on a hot day. It was a fabulous evening, not only did we have lots of beer but we also ordered food and smoked a hookah. For only 10 Euros one could order a big hookah delivered to your table with your choice of tea leaves. Is it possible to get high on tea leaves, because I’m sure nobody did? One of my friends had ordered a falafel burger and after taking a bite, I knew I needed to order one for myself. Who would have thought that vegetables and spices could make a burger taste so good. It was a priceless evening;  a bunch of us sitting outside somewhere in an alley, surrounded by tons of people going on about their own business, drinking beer, smoking and eating falafel burgers.

 

I was browsing the bbcgoodfood website this week and jumped with joy when I came across a falafel burger recipe and just knew that this would be the one to make. Friday morning after I finished teaching I quickly went to the store and bought all the ingredients that I needed. The main ingredient for a falafel burger is chickpeas. I am not a fan of beans regardless of how good they are for our bodies (and whenever I eat them, I feel bloated and it leaves me farting which is so embarrassing but true) but have come to love chickpeas.

I got home, took out all of my ingredients and “throw” them into a food processor. Oh the joy of a food processor, can you just imagine how difficult life would be if we have to stir, chop, mix, smash things ourselves?  A quick little note here, I do not own a food processor but my friend Shannon does and I promise that one day when I have my own place, I’ll be the owner of a fabulous funky looking food processor.  I took one can of chickpeas, a few garlic cloves, some fresh parsley, cumin, coriander, chili powder, flour and salt and the food processor did the rest. Once everything was blended smooth, I then shaped the mixture into four patties and fried them for approximately four minutes on each side.

 

The taste of these burgers was really good, the combination of all the spices worked well together but they kept falling apart. When you make a burger you usually add an egg or breadcrumbs to keep the mixture together, but the falafel recipe didn’t include any of that.

The recipe only called for adding two tbs of flour but that simply isn’t enough. I will make this recipe again, but will have to tweak it a bit and add something to keep it all together.

All is all a wonderful recipe.