On my recent trip to Detroit my fiancé and I fell in love with the raw falafel that we indulged in at The Cacao Tree café. After looking at many un-cookbooks I finally found one that was pretty simple to follow. Of course I changed the recipe a bit. I love how I can do that and my creations/meals still turn out well.
The combination of seeds and spices really taste like traditional falafel, even my fiancé was convinced. So if you have a hard time digesting legumes, this may be your answer!
Recipe adapted from ‘The Raw Food Diet‘
Ingredients:
Serves 2 (please buy organic for the most nutrition)
- ½ cup sunflower seeds (soaked overnight)
- 2 tbsp ground flax seeds
- 1 tbsp cilantro leaves
- ¼ tsp ground cumin
- ¼ tsp coriander seed
- 1 carrot
- 1 clove garlic
- 1 stalk of green onion
- Pinch of paprika
- Himalayan sea salt to taste
- Hemp seeds to roll the falafels in (optional)
Directions:
1. Add all ingredients except hemp seeds to food processor until completely mixed.
OR pass sunflower seeds through an Omega juicer 2x (for a smooth consistency) and the rest of ingredients 1x then mix ALL ingredients well by hand.
2. Make 1” balls.
3. Roll falafel balls in hemp seeds to firm them up.
4. Alternately you can also dehydrate these at 115 F overnight OR in a traditional oven on the lowest setting for a few hours. I personally don’t always plan my meals in advance so I didn’t mind the falafel a bit moister!
Better for you ingredients:
Whenever I look at the benefits of the ingredients in the recipes I make I am always excited at how they promote health and beauty.
Sunflower seeds
- excellent source of beautifying vitamin E (good for your skin, heart and brain health!)
- vitamin E is an antioxidant that neutralizes free radical damage and is also anti-inflammatory (i.e. helps with asthma, osteoarthritis and rheumatoid arthritis)
Flax seeds
- contain omega-3 fats which are great for the skin and are anti-inflammatory
- contain lots of fiber which helps to detoxify the body
Note: be sure to grind flax seeds to make the fats more bio-available, you can do this in a coffee grinder at home for the freshest flax meal!
Cilantro
- high in antioxidants, good for reducing free radical damage in the body
- contains anti-bacterial compounds which helps your body fight infection
- great for heavy metal removal from the body
Have a great day.
Peace 🙂
Michelle
