Falafel Zucchini Pancakes

Chickpea flour is one of my new favorite ingredients to use in the kitchen.  It's great for starting roux in stews and pot pies, in homemade seitan, and of course in lots of different Mediterranean dishes.  I love falafel and Maoz is the only "fast food" that I'll eat these days.  It's still a special treat at that though because traditional falafel balls are deep fried, of course.  

I found this recipe for Falafel Patties on the package of Bob's Red Mill Garbanzo Bean Flour and decided to give them a half recipe test run with a few tweaks and they were a hit!  The biggest difference between these falafel patties was definitely the texture.  Since they are made from a flour they had more of a pancake type consistency but the flavor was dead on.  I just wanted to add a little more texture to them and zucchini was a super easy and nutritious way to do so.  The results were delicious, easy, and a fun new addition to our recipe box.  These would be great as a breakfast side or go full Mediterranean and serve them at dinner with a vegan tzatziki. 

Ingredients

Makes 6 Pancakes

• 1 cup Chickpea (Garbanzo Bean) Flour
• 1/2 tsp sea salt
• 1/4 tsp baking soda
• 1 1/2 tsp parsley
• 1/2 tsp ground cumin
• 1/4 tsp coriander
• 1/2 tsp garlic powder
• 1/4 tsp onion powder
• 2 tsp lemon juice
• 1/2 cup hot water
• 2 T olive oil, for frying
• 1 medium zucchini

1. Wash the zucchini and trim to the top and bottom off.  Grate the zucchini on a medium-large size on your grater.  
2. Use your hands to compress the zucchini into a ball shape and place in the center of a paper towel.  Twist the towel so it is tight around the zucchini and gently squeeze to expel some of the water from the zucchini.
3. Mix all the dry ingredients thoroughly in a bowl.
4. Add in the water and lemon juice and stir until all ingredients are completely mixed through.  Set aside and allow to rest for at least 10 minutes.
5. Meanwhile, spray a nonstick skillet with cooking spray and heat over medium high heat.  Add the zucchini and cook until tender.  About 5-7 minutes.  Add the zucchini to the batter and mix thoroughly again.
6. Heat the olive oil in the nonstick skillet over medium high heat until hot.  Spoon the batter into the hot oil (about 1 1/2 T to 2 T per pancake).  The batter will be thick so use a spatula to help spread the batter out to make each pancake thin and about 3-4 in in diameter.  
7. Cook on each side for about 4 minutes or until golden brown.  (If you have a smaller skillet do two batches of three pancakes using 1 T of oil per batch.)

spicy crispy chickpeas

I love spicy foods and roasting these spicy chickpeas makes a healthy snack that with among many healthy benefits provides you with a great dose of plant based fiber and proten.  The original recipe I tried for these was only with chickpeas, but black beans taste just as great with this spicy roasting method, you just need to be careful because the black beans crisp up faster than the chickpeas.  All in all the black beans should be roasted for about 30-40 minutes depending on your oven and the chickpeas should roast for about 50-60 minutes.

Spicy Crispy Black Beans & Chickpeas

Serves 4

• 1 (15-ounce) can chickpeas, drained and rinsed
• 1 (15-ounce) can black beans, drained and rinsed

You will need two amounts of the following ingredients each, one for each set of beans.  

• 1 tablespoons olive oil
• 1/2 teaspoon chili powder
• 1/2 teaspoon cumin powder
• 1/4 teaspoon cayenne pepper
• 1/4 teaspoon sea salt

1. Preheat oven to 400 F
2. In two separate bowls mix the black beans and chickpeas with two separate amounts of the spices and oil, making sure they are coated evenly.
3. Keeping the black beans and chickpeas on separate cooking trays, place the beans in a single layer on a cooking sheet and and place in preheated oven.
4. Stir both trays of beans after 20 minutes.
5. Remove black beans from oven after 30-40 minutes.
6. Stir the chickpeas again after 40 minutes, and continue to bake for another 10-20 mintutes until crispy, but not burt.
7. Let cool and serve an an appetizer or snack.

Original recipe found HERE