Falafel with herby couscous and pepper sauce makes a filling vegetarian meal and an exciting way to try falafel. The sweet potatoes add extra sweetness and flavour, but go so well with the zingy sauce. The falafels are just as nice hot or cold, so you can either eat them right away, or you can stick them in a tupperware box and enjoy them for lunch the next day. You can easily scale up the ingredients to make more if you’re feeding a family, or if you simply want to have enough leftover so you can have them the next day
Ingredients
- 200g sweet potatoes
- 150g chickpeas
- 1tsp turmeric
- 1 lemon
- 3tbsp sesame seeds
- 75g couscous
- 1tsp oil
- a pinch each of ground cumin
- a pinch of ground coriander
- 2tbsp each chopped parsley and mint
- 100g roasted red peppers
- 1tsp tahini
- 1tsp coconut yogurt
Method
Microwave 200g sweet potatoes for 10 mins, until cooked through. Cool slightly, scoop out the middle and put into a food processor with 150g chickpeas, drained, 1tsp turmeric, zest of ½ lemon and seasoning. Whizz to a coarse paste. Sprinkle 3tbsp sesame seeds onto a plate, shape the falafel mix into patties and roll in the seeds.
Put 75g couscous, 1tsp oil and a pinch each of ground cumin and coriander into a bowl and cover with boiling water. Cover with clingfilm and leave for 5 mins. Stir through 2tbsp each chopped parsley and mint.
Heat 1tsp oil in a pan and fry the falafel until golden brown and hot through.
Meanwhile, put the juice of ½ lemon, 100g roasted redpeppers, 1tsp tahini and 1tsp coconut yogurt into a blender and whizz until smooth. Serve the falafel with the couscous drizzled with sauce.
Top tip for making Falafel with herby couscous and pepper sauce
Add some heat to the pepper sauce by using part of a fresh chilli (seeds removed), or chilli flakes work just as well too.
