Baked Zucchini Falafel with Garlic Aioli Dressing

I felt like making something fun for Sunday lunch today, so tweaked one of my favourite nibbles and turned it into a very healthy and uber delicious meal. Falafel, as much as I love it, is usually deep fried and full of unhealthy oil. My version is packed with fresh, nutritious ingredients and is baked to a golden crisp, and the lightly toasted pumpkin, cumin and sunflower seeds give these falafel balls their traditional nutty crunch.

My garlic aioli dressing is made using aquafaba (brine from a can of chickpeas) and is creamy, tangy and super easy to make.

For the Zucchini Falafel

 

Ingredients:

1 can chickpeas, drained (keep the liquid aside)

8 baby zucchinis (400g)

1 clove garlic, finely crushed

1/2 small purple onion, finely chopped

1 tsp cumin powder

1 tsp coriander powder

1 tsp cumin seeds

2 heaped tbs pumpkin seeds

2 heaped tbs sunflower seeds

2 tbs chia seeds

4 tbs chickpea brine

1 tsp Himalayan salt

1 tbs olive oil

Black pepper

Preheat your oven to 200 degrees Celsius. Clean the zucchini thoroughly and grate them all into a bowl. Place the grated zucchini into a sieve or muslin nut bag if you have one, and squeeze as much of the water out of them as possible. Try to catch the liquid in a bowl, it is full of green goodness and you can drink it as a shot or add it to a glass of ice water with lemon for a healthy drink. 

In a small bowl, mix the 4 tbs chickpea brine and 2 tbs chia seeds and set aside. This will be your egg replacement.  

Toast the pumpkin, sunflower and cumin seeds in a dry pan until they are lightly golden. Transfer to a blender and blitz for a few seconds so that they are roughly chopped, but not too fine. You want to retain their crunchiness. 

Place all of the ingredients, i.e. zucchini, chickpeas, seed mix, onion, garlic, salt, black pepper, olive oil, spices and chia egg in a large mixing bowl and, using a potato masher, mix them all together. Using the potato masher helps to break the chickpeas and get all the ingredients to more of a doughy consistency. 

Line a large oven tray with wax paper and roll the "dough" into balls. I made them palm sized and got about twelve out. Bake for about 40 minutes, and in the last few minutes place the tray closer to the top grill and turn the heat up to 250 degrees to give them a golden crisp on top.

For the Garlic Aioli Dressing

Ingredients: 

Brine from 1 can of chickpeas (minus the two tbs you used for the falafel)

1/4 cup lemon juice

1 clove garlic, crushed

1/2 tsp Himalayan salt

1/2 cup olive oil

1 tsp cream of tartar

Place the brine, crushed garlic, lemon juice, salt and cream of tartar in a blender and blend at high speed for a minute. The liquid should be a whitish colour and slightly frothy. Slowly add the olive oil while blending and once it is fully incorporated, keep blending for another minute.

Serve the falafel with a simple salad of baby spinach,  julienne carrots and beetroot and drizzle with copious amounts of the delicous garlic dressing. Enjoy! xxx