Felafel Burger - Good proteins in disguise!

Kids love their burgers and pizza’s more, than the healthy home cooked meals but how about the nutrition that their growing body is in need of ?? 

This remains the constant worry of every nurturing parent.

As concerned, we plan out actions to squeeze in the nutrients in an appealing form so that the generation enjoys it without a nag and such was an attempt of mine in making this Middle East super food, the Felafel burger that is big in nourishing but also low in calories. The nutrient dense chickpeas provide protein, dietary fiber and many other minerals serving as a power house in disguise !

Ingredients required for making Felafel :

2 cups : Chickpeas / Garbanzo beans

5 to 6 large : Garlic cloves

1 large sized : Onion, diced

1/2 cup : Mint leaves, chopped

1/2 cup : Flat Parsley ( or coriander)

4 no’s : Green Chilli 

1 tbsp : Crushed black pepper

3 tbsp : Lemon juice

1 tsp : Roasted cumin powder

1 tbsp : Olive oil

1 tsp : Baking soda

Salt to taste

Oil for shallow frying 

For Assembling :

6 to 8 no’s : Seeded whole meal Burger buns 

Lettuce leaves as required

Sliced Red Onions

Sliced Cucumbers

Sliced Tomato 

Pickles of choice ( Olives, Gherkins, jalapeño etc)

Sauces to preference ( I used Green Mint chutney and Harissa Tomato sauce )

Method : 

Wash and soak the garbanzo beans in enough water for overnight or a minimum of 6 hours.

To a food processor add in the soaked and drained garbanzo, garlic, mint, coriander, green Chilli, onion and process until coarse.

Later add in the pepper, cumin powders, salt, olive oil, lemon juice and baking soda. Process again until everything turns grainy.

Remove this coarse mixture into a bowl. Also heat a frying pan with few spoons of oil.

Shape the prepared mixture into six to eight equal portioned patties. 

Fry the patties on medium high heat until golden and done flipping in regular intervals.

Remove the fried on to a paper towel lined plate and continue frying the rest.

For Assembling :

Separate the burger buns and toast until light golden.

Smear some butter followed by sliced vegetables of choice.

Place the fried patty , squeeze the sauces of choices to preference.

Serve and enjoy while still hot !

Few pointers :

1) Instead of just Garbanzo, a mix of beans can be Substituted as well.

2) Soak the beans overnight and food process them  without any additional moisture.

3) If the mixture is wet and doesn’t hold its shape add few spoonfuls of chickpea flour or powdered oats for binding.

4) The spices and herbs can adjusted to preference.

5) I prefer to either shallow fry or bake instead of deep frying but one can definitely do so.

6) I opted for green mint and Harissa tomato as they pair well with the mildly spiced Felafel but you can choose accordingly.

7) Patties can be made and freezed well ahead of time. Just defrost and fry/bake before serving.

8) For baking : I usually brush the patty with some olive oil and bake at 200 degree Celsius for about 20 minutes flipping half way through. As every oven is different watch out for the crispy golden top.

Give this simple recipe a try and  do share your feedback :)