Vegan MoFo! F is for...

The first time I ever had falafel, I was living in London, and working on a market stall on Portobello Road. If you've ever been to the Portobello Road market, you'll know that the antique-y type stalls are at the beginning down by the Portobello Star and the Earl of Lonsdale (both awesome pubs!), while as you go towards Portobello Green, you get the more diverse stalls. I was right under the flyover, next to Portobello Green and at least was protected from the rain, but it could get incredibly cold there! Over the road from my stall, was a food store called 'Pita the Great' and the smells from there were AMAZING, so my nose led me to find out what the fuss was about. I bought the fresh falafel, in a pita with salad and tahini sauce, took a bite and was forever smitten. The taste was fabulous and since that day I have been a falafel lover. For this I decided to make a larger patty and have it in a bun instead of smaller balls in a pita. I'm feeling like poop at the moment (bloody cold!), and didn't feel like making pita bread but had some skinny bagels on hand which looked perfect enough to slide a falafel burger into!

So! You will need...

• 1 can of garbanzo beans (chick peas), or 4oz dried, soaked, cooked and drained
• 1 onion, chopped
• 2 tablespoon chopped parsley
• 2 cloves garlic, crushed
• 1 teaspoon ground coriander
• 1 teaspoon ground cumin
• 1 tablespoon flour (I used whole wheat, but all purpose would be fine too)
• oil for frying
• salad
• some kind of bread to house the patties

Through all the ingredients up to and including the flour into a food processor and blitz. You want everything to be mixed together, but make sure you still get some chunks of chickpeas left. Put in a lidded container and leave in the fridge for an hour or so. I'm not sure why but it makes it less likely to break up in the frying pan if you do this! When your belly is rumbling and you can stand it no more, heat up the frying pan, add the oil, and when it is hot take some of the falafel mix in your hand, shape into a patty and cook it. It will take a couple of minutes to brown, then flip that baby over and cook the other side. Easy peasy! Repeat with the rest of the mix. I made 4 big patties with this recipe. And this is what one of them looked like...

Delicious, no?