Chickpea Falafel with Saffron Couscous and Harissa Yoghurt
Healthy falafel, saffron spiced wholemeal couscous, harissa yoghurt.
Instructions
Drain the chickpeas into a colander, rinse under cold water and then pop into a large mixing bowl. Crush the chickpeas with a potato masher or fork until they are completely broken down and no loinger whole. Add the breadcrumbs to the bowl, season with salt and a generous grind of black pepper.
Peel and grate the garlic on the fine side of you grater (use a garlic press if you have one!). Roughly chop the flat leaf parsley and add half of this into the chickpea mix. Remove the top and bottom of the carrot. Peel and then grate the carrot on the coarse side of your grater. Add this to the chickpea mix along with the water (as specified in the ingredients table) ground cumin, the zest and juice of half the lemon.
Really squish the mix together with your hands, making sure it will come together as a ball. Tip: If the mixture is a bit dry add a tbsp of water and try to re-shape into a ball.
Shape the mixture into even sized balls, allowing three per person. Flatten the balls into patties and keep to one side. Put the kettle onto boil for the couscous.
Put the couscous in a bowl and season with salt and pepper. Add the saffron and a glug of oil. Dissolve the vegetable stock pot in the boiling water (as specified in the ingredients table above) and then pour onto the couscous. Mix well and then cover the bowl with a plate or cling film and leave for 10 mins while you get on with everything else.
Heat a frying pan over medium heat and add the flaked almonds. Dry fry the almonds for 2 mins or until nicely browned. Tip: Stir the almonds frequently to make sure they brown evenly. Remove from the pan and keep to one side.
Wipe out the pan with some kitchen roll, return it to your stove on medium heat and add a glug of oil. Pre-heat your oven to 200 degrees. When the oil is hot, add the falafel to the pan and cook for 2 mins on each side, making sure they are nicely browned on both sides. Transfer your falafel to a parchment lined baking tray and finish cooking them in the oven for 5 mins.
While the falafel are in the oven finish off your last couple of jobs. Roughly chop the vine tomatoes into 1cm chunks. Pop the natural yoghurt in bowl, season with a pinch of salt and add only a pinch of the harissa spice mix. Tip: The harissa spice mix is spicy so taste your yoghurt mix before you add any more than a pinch!
When the couscous is cooked, fluff it up with a fork and mix in the leftover chopped parsley, tomato chunks and raisins. Add a pinch of lemon zest and a squeeze of lemon juice. Taste, and add more salt and pepper if you feel the couscous needs it.
Serve the falafel alongside a generous pile of the couscous, a dollop of the yoghurt and finish with toasted flaked almonds. Enjoy!
