Oven-baked falafels with yoghurt and olive sauce
Photo credit: Céline de Cérou
Ingredients
For
4
personnes
- 500 g cooked chickpeas (or 200g dried chickpeas)
- 1 onion
- 4 gousses garlic
- ½ bouquet parsley
- ½ bouquet coriander or mint
- 1 c. à café cumin
- ¼ c. à café caraway
- 1,5 c. à soupe Provençal olive oil – ripened olives PDO
- The juice of half a lemon
- 1/2 c. à café chilli (Cayenne or mild, depending on your taste)
- Sesame seeds (optional)
- Salt, pepper
A light yoghurt and olive sauce:
- 225 g Greek-style yoghurt
- 2 c. à soupe chopped parsley
- 1 gousse chopped garlic
- 1 c. à café cumin
- 1 c. à soupe Provençal olive oil – ripened olives PDO
- The juice of half a lemon
- 50 g French olives (green or black)
Tip
To make your falafels easier to digest, you can remove the skins from your chickpeas. Rub the chickpeas with your hands whilst they’re soaking – the thin skins covering them should come off naturally! Feel free to make a large batch of falafels and freeze them. Which olive oil should you choose for these oven-baked falafels with yoghurt and olive sauce? We recommend a Provence olive oil – PDO ripened olives (matured flavour) – for its aromas of black olives, candied fruit, forest floor and/or toasted bread. But also: PDO olive oil from Aix-en-Provence – matured olives, PDO olive oil from the Vallée des Baux-de-Provence – matured olives.
Instructions
- If you are using dried chickpeas, make sure to soak them for 12 hours in plenty of water.
- Drain the chickpeas thoroughly. Mash them with a fork (to keep them slightly chunky), then add the lemon juice, chilli and olive oil. Peel the onion and garlic cloves. Finely chop the onion, crush the garlic and add them to the mixture.
- Finely chop the parsley and coriander and add the herbs to the mixture. Mix well until you have a paste that holds together easily.
If the mixture is too runny, add a little flour; if it is too thick, add a little of the cooking liquid from the chickpeas.
- Take small portions of the mixture and shape them into balls, rolling them in sesame seeds for a crunchy texture (optional). Arrange them on a baking tray lined with baking paper. Bake the falafels for 25 minutes (in an oven preheated to 180°C). Turn them over halfway through cooking so that they are nicely browned on both sides.
Meanwhile, stone the French olives and chop them. Prepare the sauce by mixing all the ingredients together. Season with salt and pepper to taste. Keep chilled until ready to serve.
- Best enjoyed straight out of the oven!
Tip
To make your falafels easier to digest, you can remove the skins from your chickpeas. Rub the chickpeas with your hands whilst they’re soaking – the thin skins covering them should come off naturally! Feel free to make a large batch of falafels and freeze them. Which olive oil should you choose for these oven-baked falafels with yoghurt and olive sauce? We recommend a Provence olive oil – PDO ripened olives (matured flavour) – for its aromas of black olives, candied fruit, forest floor and/or toasted bread. But also: PDO olive oil from Aix-en-Provence – matured olives, PDO olive oil from the Vallée des Baux-de-Provence – matured olives.
We recommend...
For this recipe, we recommend a PDO huile d'olive de Provence - olives maturées (traditional taste) – for its aromas of black olives, candied fruit, woodland and/or toast.
If you don’t have any, then opt for the PDO huile d'olive d'Aix-en-Provence – olives maturées, the PDO huile d'olive de la Vallée des Baux-de-Provence – olives maturées, or the PDO huile d'olive de Corse – Oliu di Corsica – récolte à l'ancienne.
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