Welcome to my new-for-2016 segment! You might remember that one of my New Year’s Resolutions was to cook a recipe from one of my fellow bloggers every month and write about it here. I’m very excited about staying true to this resolution. I think it’s so exciting when we all support each other in the #fdbloggers squad so.. who better to start with than Loriley, the creator of the #fdbloggers community and one of my very favourite Internet friends.

Loriley’s blog is entirely gluten free without being smug, irritating and in-your-face-clean-eating-y, something I find to be relatively hard to come by on the internet in this post-GOOP world. You should absolutely follow her whether you’re gluten free or not. I, as you know, am not, and I follow her religiously.

The recipe I decided to sample from GFsesh was homemade falafel. Something I’ve never attempted before now and something I was determined to try at some point during Veganuary. All the right things were in alignment when she hit publish on this recipe.

My intention is (or rather was) to do this project without ever changing the bloggers’ recipes, but I’ve broken that rule on the first hurdle because I couldn’t resist adding dates and apricots and coriander makes me want to commit suicide. Anyway, here’s my slightly altered (but mostly true to its original) version of the GFSesh falafel..

Makes 12

1 400g can chickpeas
2 garlic cloves, chopped
1 large red onion, finely chopped
handful parsley, chopped
6 pecan nuts, finely chopped
1/2 tsp turmeric
1/2 tsp smoked paprika
1 tsp cumin
a few dried apricots and dates, finely chopped
2 tbsp gluten free flour (I used buckwheat)
big pinch salt
2 tbsp olive oil

1. Drain and rinse chickpeas, then pat off excess moisture with kitchen towel.
2. Blitz in a food processor with the garlic for 30 seconds.
3. Add the onion, parsley, pecan nuts and spices and dried fruit then blitz again.
4. Then add the flour and a teenie bit of the salt (add the rest after cooking to avoid drying the falafel out) then blitz once again, adding the olive oil as it mixes.
5. Transfer to a mixing bowl, cover and chill for a couple of hours.
6. Shape into 12 balls, then flatten to a falafel-y shape.
7. Fry in hot oil for about 5 minutes either side, you may need to do this in batches unless you have a very large frying pan.
8. SERRRRVVVE.

They’re delicious, by the way, did I mention that in my intro? They didn’t last very long at all and my Mum and Sister ate most of them before I had a chance to revisit them.. Thanks for a badass recipe, Loriley!

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