Madhu of Ruchii had sent me Arusuvai gifts about a month and half ago. I received the package at work and I excitedly opened it, my heart filled with warmth and anticipation. The package consisted of Rasam powder, Amchur powder, Raspberry tea, coasters and a thoughtfully written greeting card. The aroma of the Rasam powder was so powerful that two of my Indian colleagues came rushing to see what I was up to and what I was ‘cooking’!
Anyway, thank you very much dear Madhu for such thoughtful and wonderful gifts, I will cherish them for a long time. (For details of Arusuvai and credits see)
Now that I had the surprise ingredients on hand, I racked my brains and thought of different things I would do with them. I knew what I would do with the Rasam powder, but the Aamchur was the tricky one. I have not used Aamchur that much in my cooking and I had to ponder to come up with a good recipe. I zeroed in onto this No fry Falafel recipe using Garbanzo Beans and the source of inspiration was from the book Vegetarian Book.
The nutty flavored beans garbanzo beans are a good source of protein without the high calories or saturated fat found in other foods. Along with protein these beans, have the blood sugar stabilizing effect and heart health benefits of the soluble fiber. (Source)
After I made this I felt that the taste of this was similar to the Potato Tikkis. I had to add the bread as I felt the dough was not holding up well while making the Pattis. Addition of Aamchur really made a world of difference to the taste. This is my contribution to Sangeeth’s Eat Healthy-Protein Rich event at Art of Cooking Indian Food.
Ingredients:
- 1 cup garbanzo beans/ canned is also fine
- ½ cup chopped onion
- 2 green chillies finely chopped
- 1 Tbsp grated ginger
- 1 Tbsp grated garlic
- 2 tsp Aamchur powder
- 1 slice bread (edges cut)
- 1 tsp jeera coriander powder(optional)
- ½ cup chopped coriander leaves
- White sesame seeds for coating
- Oil
- Salt
Method:
- (If using the canned beans then ignore this step) Soak the garbanzo beans in enough water overnight. Pressure cook the beans until it is soft (not mushy).
- Dip the bread in water and squeeze out the water completely.
- Mix all the ingredients (except oil and sesame seeds) well making sure there are no lumps. Taste for seasonings and adjust taste.
- Heat a flat bottom pan and spread around 1 tsp of oil.
- Divide this mixture into big lemon sized ball and using the tip of your hands flatten it.
- Coat this thoroughly in the sesame seeds and place them on the pan. Continue the same process for the remaining balls.
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Put little oil around each patty and cook until it is done.
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After one side is cooked, (turned light brown) gently turn it on the other side and allow it to cook.
no abelskiver pan this time? they look delicious.
RC very nice.. looks yummy
looks very nice .. i love falafel ..have never attempted it at home though
that is the yummiest pyramid I have ever seen. Looks totally awesome.
I love Falafel & no fry sounds so good, that i can eat more! These look yum RC….Loved the leaning tower!!
no fry falafal looks very delicious and healthy too
RC – this is cool…I posted one too today.
I came mainly to congratulate u on the food world. Thats some work u have put in RC..with ur bc life, u managed to do all this. Amazing
great entry…yummy looking recipe
falafel looks so tasty and nutritious! I often bake these instead of deep frying.
lovely recipe rc , I especially like the no fry thing!!!
Looks yum!
Love falafel but I’ve never cooked these at home. It looks simple enough.
What? You made these too! I just posted something similar and I come here and see this.
The addition of sesame seeds is a nice touch.
Just made this for the first time (with a few substitutions for what I had on hand). Delicious! Will make again for sure as it seems quite adaptable.
Thank You
These are favourite. Actually I like anything made with chickpeas.
The sesame seed finish looks good.
Nice & healthy receipes, a must try .. i was wondering if we should use white bread or any whole grain or whole wheat bread should do the same trick, or can i use bread crumbs instead of bread
Thanks
Shoba
Hi Shoba,
Thanks for trying the recipe. You can use any type of bread available on hand. I actually had whole grain bread and so I used it.
Breadcrumbs should also do the same trick. It adds little bit of thickness to the chickpea dough.
Thanks all and thank you Melissa for trying this out. I am glad you liked it.
I adore falafel. I like your version here. Sounds delicious.
Hi RC
I love your website, photos.
Can you tell me if we can use wheat bread for this recipe?
Also did you grind the chickpeas?
Thank you
Thanks abc for the warm comments. I did use wheat bread for this and I mashed it using hands ( I did not grind the chickpeas). After the chcikpeas are cooked, you can mash them with hands/potato masher. Hope this helps.
your recipes are great because they are not deep fried
the ingds are easily available and most of us have these at home.
I have been amazed at how resourceful you are
your ideas, and recipe inventions are great.
Thank you so much for the kind words dear Renuka, you made my day:-)