Falafel and quinoa surprise

Falafel is one of the foods that goes along with both of us when wanting a hearty, almost meaty, protein dish. It's also easy and cheap to make, especially if you buy lots of dried chickpeas at once. But we also keep ready-made chickpeas in our cupboard, if we need to make a quick food after work or when just hungry and lazy. They are also perfect for a quick hummus desire. We usually make the falafel in the oven, not frying in a pan or deep-frying (because it's easier and healthier that way) but you can choose the way you want to cook them.

Quinoa is a newer friend in our kitchen. This quinoa salad was actually made from what we had in our refrigerator. So also a perfect quicker-than-falafel dish. You can make this as you are waiting the falafel to cook in the oven.

Music for the recipe

Falafel balls
about 20-25 balls

1 tbsp olive oil
1 1/2 dl onion, chopped
3 1/2 dl chickpeas, soaked and boiled
3/4 dl whole-wheat flour
2 garlic cloves, minced
1 tsp cumin
drop of Naga chili sauce or chopped chili of your choice
1,5 dl coriander or parsley, chopped
1 tbsp tahini
1/2 lemon juice
salt
pepper
1-2 tbsp water, if needed

First fry the chopped onion (not garlic) on the pan with olive oil to make them tender and sweet. Add all the other ingredients on a large bowl (or straight to blender) and grind them together. I like to leave some texture to the mix but you can make it quite smooth, too. Check the taste, add spices if needed and add the soft onion to the mix. Then just mix together (not in blender anymore). If the mixture feels too dry and you cannot make a ball out of it, add a bit water to it. Roll the balls and cook them in the oven, 200 degrees about 30 minutes.

Quinoa surprise salad

3 dl quinoa
6 dl water
1 tsp salt

4 spring onions
1 sweet red pepper
1 bunch of romaine salad
1 dl salty peanuts

sauce:
1 bunch of parsley
1 dl of salty peanuts
1 garlic clove
1/2 lemon juice
1 dl olive oil
1 tsp honey
salt
pepper

Put the water to boil, add the salt to it. Rinse the dry quinoa under the cold water and add to the boiling water. It takes about 15-20 minutes the quinoa to be ready. Slice the spring onions, chop the pepper and salad to the bowl. Make the sauce for the salad: put all the sauce ingredients in a blender and mix until smooth. Mix the boiled quinoa and sauce to salad base. Garnish with peanuts.