Baked Falafels

My friend V inspired me to try making falafels at home and they've quickly become a favorite. The biggest drawback for me is that I don't have a food processor. I have a blender. So it's definitely a little bit more effort, but the end results have really been worth it. The other thing that held me back in the past is that I really don't enjoy deep frying at home. Enter V's solution of baking the falafels. They're still crispy, and I expect they're a tiny bit healthier too. So here's my mashup of two recipes to create my new favorite baked falafels. I often double the recipe below since they get eaten so quickly. Note: the chickpeas need soaking overnight, so don't try and make this if you're tight on time!

Baked Falafels

Adapted from Smitten Kitchen + Cookie and Kate

Ingredients

Falafels

• 1/2 pound (1 1/4 cups or 225 grams) dried chickpeas
• 1/2 a large onion, roughly chopped
• 2 garlic cloves, peeled
• 1/4 cup finely chopped fresh parsley, if you’re measuring, or a big handful
• 1/4 cup finely chopped fresh cilantro, if you’re measuring, or a big handful
• 2 teaspoons kosher salt, plus more to taste
• 1/2 teaspoon hot red pepper flakes
• 1 teaspoon ground cumin
• 1/4 cup olive oil, plus more for blending if needed

To serve

• For wraps - we use fresh tortillas from HEB. For burgers, I love the potato hamburger buns. 
• Shredded cabbage, mixed with ranch dressing
• Finely chopped parsley and/or cilantro
• Hummus

Method

1. Put chickpeas in a bowl and cover with water so there's 2 inches of water above the top of the chickpeas. Cover the bowl and leave it to soak overnight in the fridge.
2. Drain soaked chickpeas and place in large bowl. Add onion, garlic, parsley, cilantro, salt, red pepper flakes, and cumin. Mix to combine.
3. In small batches (I usually do about 1 cup at a time) - add mixture to blender and blend until ingredients are roughly chopped. Some larger pieces of things can remain, but it should look like couscous. You may need to add a little olive oil or water to get the blender to mix well, but don't add too much - you need the final mixture to hold together and shape into falafels. Scrape blended mixture into clean bowl and keep doing this until you've blended all of the falafel mixture. Give the mixture in the new bowl a good mix at the end to make sure everything is combined evenly. Let this mixture rest in the fridge for 30 minutes so it can firm up. (I often skip this fridge step because I am LAZY.)
4. Heat oven to 375F/190C. Add 1/4 cup olive oil to a baking sheet and tilt the baking sheet until it is completely covered in oil.
5. If making smaller falafels, I use my hands to scoop out a falafel-sized amount of mixture and then shape it into patties about 2-3 inches wide and about 1/2 inch thick. If making falafel burgers, I scoop out enough mixture to form a burger-sized patty. I drop each of these patties onto the oiled baking sheet, leaving some space in between them so I can flip them later. 
6. Bake for 30 minutes, flipping the falafels halfway through baking, until the falafels are nice and brown on both sides. 
7. For wraps: Warm a tortilla and smear hummus across the middle in a stripe. Place falafel patties on hummus stripe and top with cabbage, cilantro and/or parsley, if using. Fold it up like a taco and eat! For burgers: toast buns and smear hummus on bottom bun. Add falafel patty and cabbage, cilantro and/or parsley and any other burger condiments you enjoy.