When we first moved into our RV it was like we had to learn to cook all over again. Not only because each country does not necessarily have the ingredients that we are used to, but also due to lack of space and a ton of kitchen accessories. But it has actually been both fun and exciting to be creative in the kitchen and it has taught us to eat a lot of dishes we never or rarely ate before. Falafels and Hummus are one of them.
Falafels
1 glass of ready chickpeas in juice (400g)
1 teaspoon cumin
1 teaspoon of dried cilantro or a handful of fresh
½ teaspoon cayenne pepper or chili
2 tablespoons of chopped onion
2 cloves of garlic
2 tablespoons of flour
Salt and pepper
Oil for cooking
Start by blending half of the chickpeas (save the rest for the Hummus), onion, and garlic for about 30 seconds. Don’t bother to rinse them, because the juice in the glass adds extra flavor. Just pick them up from the glass with a spoon.
Add flour (and a little water if the mash is too thick). You must be able to roll small balls of the mash. Add the spices to your taste (more or less, whatever you prefer). Mix well. Don’t blend the mash too long. It still needs to have a bit of texture from the chickpeas and not be a 100% smooth mass.
Add extra flavour
If you feel like it and are in an experimenting mood you can add things like crumbs from a piece of stale bread, a handful of fresh peas or canned corn, chopped kale, curry, paprika, or whatever you find interesting in your Falafels to give them a personal touch. Cooking doesn’t have to be so strict as long as you stick to the basic recipe and in this case, can roll small balls from the “dough”.
Now heat oil in a pot or a pan. Roll balls by hand (or use a spoon) in your preferred size and cook for about 1-2 minutes until golden brown. The ones below are a little more flat, so they fit in a falafel roll.
We don’t own a blender, because it takes up too much space, but we have this manual blender/chopper and it has been one of our best buys ever! It’s so diverse and can chop and blend nuts, vegetables, chickpeas and much more. We can even switch the blades for an accessory that makes it possible to whisk cream, egg whites, etc. Sure, the container is smaller than a blender, but then we just blend or chop things separately and mix them in a bowl afterward.
(We’re not paid or anything to recommend this one. It’s just a really great gadget for RV living)
Hummus
No Falafels and Hummus without Hummus, so let’s empty that jar of chickpeas. Here we go:
The rest of the chickpeas (don’t rinse these either)
Juice from half a lemon
1 teaspoon of cumin powder
½ a teaspoon of cayenne pepper or chili powder
3 tablespoons of olive oil
Salt and pepper
Put all the ingredients in your blender and blend until you have a smooth Hummus. If the Hummus is too thick, add a little bit of water. Add more spices to your taste. Again you can play around and add a personal touch to your Hummus by adding things like onion, garlic, cilantro, vegetables, spices, etc to it while blending. Our favorite Hummus has onion, red bell pepper, and a bit of fresh chili in it too.
Serve Falafels and Hummus with salad and bread or as a Falafel roll, with this super easy and RV-friendly Naan bread.
