Recipe: Baked Falafel

This was my first time trying this recipe. It appealed to me because as much as I love falafel, I try to avoid fried food (it doesn't really agree with me). When I found this recipe online, I decided to give it a shot. Honestly, I wasn't impressed. I thought it was bland, and you still have to fry it in olive oil before baking it.

I will try making this again, but make the following changes:
1. I will add more spices to it. Maybe turmeric? It was definitely missing something.
2. I will skip frying them altogether and place them on a baking sheet greased with cooking spray and bake for 20 minutes.

I am going to post the recipe and directions I used this time around in this post. Next time I make these, I will post my alterations with the results.

Ingredients:
1/4 cup chopped onion
1 (15 ounce) can garbanzo beans, rinsed and drained
1/4 cup chopped fresh parsley
3 cloves garlic, minced
1 teaspoon ground cumin
1/4 teaspoon salt
1/4 teaspoon baking soda
1 tablespoon all-purpose flour
1 egg, beaten
2 teaspoons olive oil

Directions:
Place garbanzo beans, parsley, garlic, cumin, salt, and baking soda in a food processor. Process until the mixture is coarsely pureed. Mix garbanzo bean mixture and onion together in a bowl. Stir in the floor and egg. Shape mixture into four large patties and let stand for 15 minutes.
Preheat an oven to 400 degrees F (200 degrees C).
Heat olive oil in a large, oven-safe skillet over medium-high heat. Place the patties in the skillet; cook until golden brown, about 3 minutes on each side.
Transfer skillet to the preheated oven and bake until heated through, about 10 minutes.

serves 2

I ate these with roasted red pepper hummus, which was good (would have been better if the falafel wasn't so bland, though).

I'm taking a trip to Growing Power to deliver a thank you card and pick up some more fruit this afternoon, so I'm pumped about that!