I love a falafel as much as the next person but they can be wildly hit and miss! Some are dry, others greasy and at home I wanted to make some which could be oven baked instead of fried and moist enough to eat with a salad or meze of other Mediterranean foods. And that’s how Sweet Potato Falafel came about.
The addition of sweet potato in this recipe not only adds a delicious flavour bit also makes them far more moist. I roast the potato in cubes as this is a quicker and more cost-effective way of doing it rather than roasting the whole potato. I also find boiling the sweet potatoes makes it too wet and they don’t hold together properly. I also think roasting the spices brings out their flavour. If you want to make them hotter you can as add some cayenne pepper to the spice mix. If you feel they need more spices later on add some to the mashed mix before you turn them into balls. This is such an easy recipe to adapt to your own tastes.
I have made mine into balls but you can squish that ball a little to give it a flattened top and bottom. This made 16 but you can make more slightly smaller ones if you would prefer, at this size three to four is plenty in a wrap.
Sweet potatoes are often on offer and reasonably priced and chickpeas are a bargain so you should be able to make these for around £1.50 so they come in at around 38p for a generous portion of four each. You can also make them ahead and reheat them from frozen or defrosted in the oven. I like to do this when sweet potatoes are on special offer as they are brilliant for a quick meal and also to grab if we unexpected visitors with a few other meze bits I have frozen ahead or some couscous.
Sweet Potato Falafel
Ingredients
- 650g sweet potatoes (with orange flesh) peeled and diced into chunks
- 2 teaspoons ground cumin
- 2 teaspoons ground coriander
- 1 tin of chickpeas, drained
- 1 large handful of fresh coriander, finely chopped
- salt and pepper
- sesame seeds to sprinkle
- a little olive oil
Directions
- Step 1 Preheat the oven to gas 7/220°C/fan 200°C.
- Step 2 Place the chopped sweet potatoes on a baking tray and drizzle with some oil, toss the sweet potato they are all covered. Sprinkle over the ground cumin and coriander and toss again.
- Step 3 Roast in the oven for 20mins, larger cubes may need a little longer but they should be cooked through. Allow to cool for 10mins.
- Step 4 In a bowl mash the chickpeas and sweet potatoes. When thoroughly mixed add the fresh coriander and season to taste with salt and pepper.
- Step 5 Take a handful of the falafel mixture and form into a ball around the size of a golf ball – you should have 16 at this size. Feel free to make them smaller if you wish, you will just need to slightly reduce the final cooking time.
- Step 6 Place on a lightly oiled baking tray and sprinkle the tops with sesame seeds.
- Step 7 Bake for 25mins at gas 7/220°C/fan 200°C.
- Step 8 Serve as they are with dips and salad or in a wrap.
