Sweet chilli tortillas with falafel balls, aubergine, pepper and tahini {London marathon fundraising}

I really loved this meal. The tortillas are great in their own right, but when served with falafel, vegetables and tahini they are really great! Mr Bite had his version with mayonnaise instead of tahini, and he gave his meal a tick of approval too.

I used to be scared of making tortillas, but they really are quite easy. Mine are always misshapen and messy, but I like to pretend that adds character. The ingredient list is half the length of commercial brands, and you can tweak flavourings to suit - like adding sweet chilli sauce in this case.

If you serve the tortillas straight from the plan, they are warm and delicious but still quite fragile. However, they do firm up on standing, and I find that they keep find for a day in the fridge if well sealed or wrapped.

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Non-traditional falafel and a tahini discovery

Every now and then I take pity on my neglected cookbooks and try out a new dinner recipe from a real life, printed, owned by me, book. I wish this happened more than once a month or so, but once a month seems to be my average.

Last Sunday, I am pleased to say, was one of those days.

The recipe was chosen in part by flipping randomly through cookbooks, and in part by seeing tahini feature in the one I ultimately chose. You see, traditionally I haven't liked tahini. At all. But last week I read Brydie's discovery of unhulled tahini, where she found it to be very different from, and much better than, the hulled variety. I wanted to try it.

So, falafel burgers it was. The recipe came from The Vegan Table by Colleen Patrick-Goudreau, which I've posted from on several occasions previously. The serving suggestion involves a yoghurt and tahini-based Falafel Sauce, which I didn't make, along with salad filled pita pockets. The original recipe also featured garlic, but I discovered along the way that ours was too old to use.

Our less faithful version also involved several commercial sauces, wrap bread, cheese on one plate, and bok choi on the other.

Thus the 'non-traditional' part of this post title.

Regardless of how you serve these, the falafel patties are easy, quick, and tasty. I'm not usually a big fan of falafel and related products, so I was pleasantly surprised by just how much I enjoyed these. My version of the recipe made 5 burgers as I halved the recommended ingredients, but you could easily make a full batch and feeze some.

Falafel patties

Lightly adapted from The Vegan Table (Colleen Patrick-Goudreau)

Vegan

Makes a half batch - approximately 5

Print recipe

Ingredients

1/2 of a 420g can chickpeas, rinsed and drained

1/2 cup bread crumbs

1/2 onion, diced

Up to 1/4 cup chopped fresh parsley

1 tbsp tahini

1 tsp ground cumin

1/2 tsp ground coriander

1/8 tsp paprika

1/2 tsp baking powder

1/2 tsp lemon juice

Pinch salt

Few grinds black pepper

Optional - the other 1/2 of the onion, to fry and serve with the burgers

Method

Preheat oven to 200'C.

Pulse chickpeas briefly in a food processor, until crushed but still thick, or mash by hand.

In a medium bowl, combine all ingredients except the bread crumbs (chickpeas, onion, parsley, tahini, cumin, coriander, paprika, baking powder, lemon juice, salt and pepper).

Add the bread crumbs and mix together. The mixture should be firm and hold together; add more bread crumbs if needed.

Shape into patties and place on a nonstick baking tray (I sprayed mine with cooking oil first).

Cook for 10 - 12 minutes, then turn and cook for a further 10 - 12 minutes until both sides are golden.

While the patties are cooking, saute or fry half an onion, chopped, until golden brown. 

You might want to dice your onion more finely than I diced mine, 

if you don't want visible onion chunks at the end!

I think these patties would be suited to burger buns, pita bread, wraps, or just atop salad. 

And the tahini? I am pleased to report that I have a new rival to almond butter. It is definitely savoury and not sweet (I find nut butters to sit at the interface), but the unhulled version tasted incredibly different to what I'd tried previously. It worked well in these burgers. It worked well on Ugly Duckling Muffins. It even works off a spoon. Try it!

Do you enjoy falafel and similar flavours? How about tahini?

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