I love felafel and as it has now been a very long time indeed since I last ate some, I was keen to try out the Hale & Hearty Felafel mix. This mix is organic, vegan, gluten free and, like all Hale & Hearty products, does not contain artifical flavourings, colourings or preservatives.
The felafel mix said it would be ‘quick and easy’. Was it? Well, decide for yourself. Contents of Hale & Hearty felafel mix in glass bowl. Other required ingredient in measuring jug:
All you need to do is add water to the mix, leave to rest for 15 minutes and then make into felafel balls. The pack suggests using either your hands or 2 teaspoons to shape them but actually I quite enjoyed getting my hands in there and rolling them into shape!
Pop them into the frying pan and fry until golden:
For me, this was the only slightly tricky bit. When I started frying them, they stuck a little bit to the pan and had some burnt bits which I had to rescue from the frying pan. I’ve had the same problem with fish cakes in the past so not sure if this is more user error than product problem. The instructions only say to shallow fry but I wonder if you could oven bake them? Might experiment with that in future. Anyway, the sticky problem disappeared as they heated up and started to fry.
Here’s how I served them. I made my own take on Tabbouleh, except with quinoa.
So how did they taste? They were absolutely delicious, with lovely flavours of cumin, parsley, coriander and garlic all present.
The camping and festival season may nearly be over unless you’re going to Bestival this weekend (even I fancy a spot of ’boutique camping’ in a yurt!) but next summer you could whizz these up and be the envy of your fellow campers.
Store cupboard essentials score: 10/10 (as long as you have access to boiling water, you’re in luck)
Ease of use: 7.5/10 (but I’m hoping to improve my shallow frying technique)
Taste: 9/10
