Inspired by a recipe for cauliflower fritters, I decided to make something similar using broccoli instead, because we still have broccoli int he garden, but no more cauliflower. Broccoli plants re-sprout many times once the main head is cut, whereas cauliflower does not, hence the abundance of this highly nutritious winter crop.
I started off with some leftover boiled broccoli (about 3 cups worth), drained of excess liquids. I pureed this (including the stalks, which were quite tender), adding a finely grated onion, 2 finely minced cloves of garlic and a few sprigs of finely minced parsley. To spice things up, I added some ground ginger, paprika, cumin, pepper and salt. To bind the patties: 2 eggs, 150g grated cheese, 1/2 cup of chickpea flour (for flavour) and, instead of ready breadcrumbs which I'd run out of, I whizzed about 1 1/2 cups of paximadi in the blender and added them to the wet ingredients to give a soft, not-so-dry pattie that would remain firm when cooked.
Falafel tends to break up, so after forming the patties and flouring them carefully on both sides, I placed them one by one in quick succession in the frying pan where olive oil had been heated to a very high temperature. This is important because oil cools down in the pan as you add things to it, and your fritters will become heavy, oil-sodden and fragile.
The falafel were cooked on both sides till golden crusty brown. We had them with spanakorizo, which is a lot of green food for one day, my husband says...
©All Rights Reserved/Organically cooked. No part of this blog may be reproduced and/or copied by any means without prior consent from Maria Verivaki.
I started off with some leftover boiled broccoli (about 3 cups worth), drained of excess liquids. I pureed this (including the stalks, which were quite tender), adding a finely grated onion, 2 finely minced cloves of garlic and a few sprigs of finely minced parsley. To spice things up, I added some ground ginger, paprika, cumin, pepper and salt. To bind the patties: 2 eggs, 150g grated cheese, 1/2 cup of chickpea flour (for flavour) and, instead of ready breadcrumbs which I'd run out of, I whizzed about 1 1/2 cups of paximadi in the blender and added them to the wet ingredients to give a soft, not-so-dry pattie that would remain firm when cooked.
Falafel tends to break up, so after forming the patties and flouring them carefully on both sides, I placed them one by one in quick succession in the frying pan where olive oil had been heated to a very high temperature. This is important because oil cools down in the pan as you add things to it, and your fritters will become heavy, oil-sodden and fragile.
The falafel were cooked on both sides till golden crusty brown. We had them with spanakorizo, which is a lot of green food for one day, my husband says...
©All Rights Reserved/Organically cooked. No part of this blog may be reproduced and/or copied by any means without prior consent from Maria Verivaki.
they sound good, but better still they make my mouth water , picture a flea market stand somewhere in UK selling hot Greek Brocftethes!! it will make the falafel guy down the road shake in his shoes .
ReplyDeletebrokolokeftedes - nice one!
Delete