HelloFresh Canada Review: Moroccan Chickpea Falafels

HelloFresh Canada delivers fresh ingredients and healthy, chef-curated recipes based on seasonal farm fresh ingredients straight to your doorstep each week. Every week HelloFresh members choose three meals from a selection of award-winning, constantly-changing recipes (say goodbye to recipe boredom!). 

We recently reviewed our September HelloFresh Canada delivery and now we are showing you the last of the three recipes from our monthly delivery. Our first recipe (Hearty Lentil Salad) was a total success. The second recipe (Thin-Crust Pizza) was a nice little treat, and today’s recipe is full of flavour. We shared some fun facts about HelloFresh with you in the last two posts. Here’s a few more…..

• HelloPerks – it pays to be part of a food-loving family. Occasionally we’ll include a special gift or offer for you in your HelloFresh box just to say thanks for joining us on our culinary adventures
• Meals will stay fresh for up to a week
• You can skip a delivery anytime

Oh, and if you aren’t familiar with HelloFresh Canada you can get all the details in THIS POST.

Let’s have a look at today’s recipe:

Moroccan Chickpea Falafels

Falafel are a popular street food all across the Middle East and Egypt but there’s a lot of disagreement as to where they originated and who makes the finest. We think ours are up there with the best! Try them and see if you agree!

Ingredients:

• 340 g Carrot
• 260 g Roma Tomatoes
• 10 g Garlic
• 10 g Parsley
• 1 unit Lemon
• 1 box Chickpeas
• ⅓ cup Panko
• 1 tbsp Moroccan Spice Blend
• 28 g Sliced Almonds
• 113 g Couscous
• 1 unit Vegetable Broth Concentrate
• ¼ tsp Turmeric
• 6 tbsp Sour Cream
• 56 g Sultana Raisins

Directions:

• Wash and dry all produce. Coarsely grate the carrots. Cut the tomatoes into 1/2-inch pieces. Mince or grate the garlic. Roughly chop the parsley. Zest, then juice the lemon. Add the entire box of chickpeas and its liquid into a medium bowl. Using a fork or potato masher, coarsely mash until it sticks together.
• PREP FALAFELS: Add the garlic, Moroccan spice blend, panko, half the grated carrot and half the parsley into the chickpeas. Season with salt and pepper. Stir together until the mixture is sticky and can be formed into a ball. Divide the falafel mixture into 6 portions. Form into balls, then flatten the balls into patties.
• COOK FALAFELS: Heat a large non-stick pan over medium heat. Add a drizzle of oil, then the patties.Cook until golden-brown, 3-4 min per side. Transfer to a paper towel-lined plate.
• COOK COUSCOUS: Meanwhile, bring a kettle of water to a boil. In a medium bowl, combine the couscous, broth concentrate, a pinch of turmeric and 3/4 cup salted boiling water. Cover and let stand for 5 min. (TIP: You can also bring 3/4 cup salted water to a boil in a small pot, then add the couscous to the water.)
• ASSEMBLE COUSCOUS: Add the tomatoes, remaining carrot, remaining parsley, raisins and 2 tbsp lemon juice into the couscous. Season with salt and pepper. In a small bowl, combine the sour cream, lemon zest and 2 tsp lemon juice. Season with salt and pepper.
• FINISH AND SERVE: Divide the couscous between plates. Top with the falafels and a dollop of lemon crema. Sprinkle with the almonds.

Notes: I really enjoyed making this dish. The couscous salad was wonderful, I can definitely see myself making it again. The tomatoes, carrots, raisins and parsley are a really great flavour combination. I had a little trouble with the falafels though. They didn’t really want to stick together. My first batch fell apart so with the second batch I spent a little more time working them into patties. Other than that the recipe was a success, it was easy to make and had great flavour.

XOXO