This week (M-F) Mark and I have been eating completely vegan dinners (expect a wrap-up next week), and next up on our list was homemade falafel.

I absolutely love falafel (next to my beloved hummus, it’s the best vehicle for chickpeas, though roasted chickpeas are a close third), but I’ve never made it myself.

Because I’m crazy overly ambitious, I didn’t want to “cheat” and use canned chickpeas. I found this recipe that seemed simple enough and followed it almost 100%.

Because we wanted to let the falafel patties firm up in the fridge overnight, we quick-soaked the dry chickpeas Monday night (boiling for a few minutes, covering, and letting sit for around an hour). This may have been our first mistake, though I’m sure many people use this method in a pinch.

We used our KitchenAid meat grinding attachment (thanks, Grannie!) to process the soaked beans, parsley, chives, cumin, coriander, cayenne, dried cilantro (my own addition), salt, pepper, baking powder, and minced garlic into a sticky meal. The mixture smelled divine, and we formed the mixture into balls (second mistake?) to chill till Tuesday.

Tuesday night, we brought out the fryer. Well, since we planned on stuffing the falafel into pita pockets, we decided to flatten out the falafel balls. Mark (the grill and the fryer are all his; flames and hot grease scare me!) gently placed a few into the basket, and after a couple minutes, we lifted them up to find they had completely disintegrated!!!

I was so upset. Since we’d spent so much time in the kitchen (prepping ingredients for the Crockpot soup we’re eating tonight), we were ravenous. Luckily we made plenty of patties, so we decided to bake them.

They never became crispy (and the insides were still mushy), but they tasted delicious. We happily ate them for dinner and even plan to take leftovers for lunch tomorrow. Only a few patties were wasted!

Reading over the reviews and similar recipes, I felt we did everything right. Maybe the quick soak played a role, but I think we created too many cracks when forming the patties. It also could’ve been the oil temperature. Oh well…you live, you learn.

Luckily not all of yesterday’s meals were disastrous. Here’s What (Else) I Ate Wednesday Tuesday:

Breakfast: Oat bran (sweetened with sliced banana) and topped with raisins and cinnamon + the usual mug of coffee

Morning snack: A banana

Lunch: Leftover walnut-lentil loaf and roasted brussels sprouts

Afternoon Snack: Black cherry tea + a few Cadbury mini eggs + a Reese’s PB Cup (This is why I shouldn’t keep a candy jar on my desk!)

Dinner: The not-so-awful falafel pita pockets (with tomato, red onion, and a lemon-tahini sauce) + an Abita Spring IPA (I’m really enjoying this new beer)

Question:

What’s your worst kitchen failure?