Light Bites

Claire Thomson’s Roasted Isle of Wight Tomato Falafels

These delicious tomato falafels are the perfect lunch for a sunny summer's day. We recommend serving them with a yoghurt dip and warm pitta breads!

1 hour prep, 15 minutes cook

Serves 4

Ingredients

350g dried chickpeas, soaked overnight in cold water, drained

2 – 3 cloves garlic, peeled and chopped

2 shallots, peeled and finely chopped

500g Isle of Wight tomatoes, cut in ½, or use Isle of Wight

cherry tomatoes

2 tbsp olive oil

2 tsp ground coriander

2 tsp ground cumin

1 tsp sweet unsmoked paprika

50g Isle of Wight smoked sundried tomato, drained & chopped, or use 2 tbsp tomato puree

1 tsp salt

1 litre neutral cooking oil for frying the falafel

Method

Preheat the oven to 180°C. Roast the tomatoes with a big pinch of salt and 2 tbsp of olive oil, skin side down for 15 - 25 mins until very soft and starting to caramelize a little. Remove from the oven and cool.

Using a food processor, blend the roasted tomatoes with the garlic until smooth.

Add the chickpeas to the food processor with the blended tomatoes. Add the shallots, sundried tomatoes or puree, spices and salt and blend until you have a coarse paste. Chill the mixture in the fridge for at least 30 minutes.

Preheat the oven to 160°C. Heat 5cm of oil in a saucepan at high heat to fry the falafel mixture in.

The mixture is quite wet and the oil is very hot so do be careful from here. Use two spoons- one to shape and one to scrape the mixture off. Drop spoonfuls of the batter into the hot oil. It should bubble and fry, quickly turning crisp and golden brown, about 2 minutes. Flip the falafel over to fry on the other side for 1 ½ - 2 minutes more. Work in small batches, 3 or 4 at a time, removing the falafel with a slotted spoon when crisp and golden brown.

Work in batches keeping the cooked fried falafel warm in the oven until you have used up all the mix.