Day 15 of Vegan MoFo 2014….
Halfway there! It is kind of crazy how time flies by when you are having fun or when you are stressed out about deadlines for posts but for this first time MoFo’er it has been such a great experience. I am not sick of my kitchen just yet so it is full steam ahead in the second part of this month.
This recipe is inspired by my mother and her love for old black-and-white movies. When my sister and I were growing up, we did not have cable, just the old rabbit ears with tinfoil balls on their ends so we did not watch a lot of TV. My mother only enjoyed a select few cartoons like Animaniacs or Bugs Bunny (which I know them now to be incredibly violent!) so needless to say we did not watch a lot of kid-shows either. During my teen years when all my friends were obsessed with Dawson’s Creek, Friends and Passions (yes the soap opera) however my mother had no patience for 90’s teen TV characters complaining about how everything was just so tragic. “I will show you real tragedy,” she would say as you popped in a VHS tape. So I spent most Friday nights watching Gregory Peck in the Maycomb courtroom defending a wrongly accused man while Jem and Scout watched from the balcony, Audrey Hepburn in her trench coat, soaked and looking for Cat in the rain and of course Humphrey Bogart saying goodbye to his true love all for the greater good but meeting a friend along the way.
How I love Ilsa Lund’s (Ingrid Bergman) jewelry sparkling softly in the low lighting, the way she sipped champagne so elegantly, her large brimmed hats and her amazing capability to keep a white suit stain-free and glowing.
Rick’s Café Américain is what I thought every nightclub was like: large bandstand with talented musicians in white dinner jackets, a piano player playing beautiful love songs, fancy hats and gambling underground until I actually went to one and upon arrival some pimple-faced kid barfed near me, spattering it across my shoes. That place was no Rick’s.
Casablanca is still my favourite old movie as well my mothers. I imagine Morocco’s air to be full of warm spices, gin joints to get a stiff drink and having a grand but tragic romance with my true love. But in the meantime, I will just enjoy these Moroccan Spiced recipes with a drink in hand.
10 recipes down, 10 more to go! Woot!
- 1 1/2 teaspoon ground cumin
- 1 teaspoon ground ginger
- 1/2 teaspoon cracked black pepper
- 1/2 teaspoon ground cinnamon
- 1/2 teaspoon ground coriander
- 1/2 teaspoon ground allspice
- Pinch of ground cloves
- Pinch of cayenne
- Mix all the spices together in a small container.
- 1-15 ounce can no salt chickpeas, drained and rinsed
- 1 ½ -2 teaspoons Moroccan Spice
- ½ teaspoon fine grain sea salt
- ½ teaspoon extra virgin olive oil or coconut oil
- Dash of lemon juice (optional)
- Preheat oven to 400 degrees and line a baking sheet with a layer of paper towels. While the oven is heating up, add the drained chickpeas to the paper towels in a single layer. Top with more paper towels and (gently!) dry the chickpeas by rolling your hands around the top layer of the paper towels. Wet chickpeas do not crisp up as nicely. Transfer now dry chickpeas to a medium bowl and gently toss with the oil, spice and salt until all the beans are coated. Line the baking sheet with parchment paper. Transfer oiled chickpeas to the baking sheet in a single layer and bake for 30 minutes, gently shaking the pan to flip the beans halfway through the cooking time. Remove from the oven and serve.
- When they are still really hot, I like to add a little bit of lemon juice to the hot pan, shaking the pan to coat the chickpeas. I think it brightens the flavour but it is optional.
- 2 tablespoons ground flax seed meal
- 3 large garlic cloves
- ½ cup roughly chopped red onion
- 1/3 cup lightly packed cilantro leaves
- 1/3 cup lightly packed parsley leaves
- 1-19 ounce can chickpeas, drained and rinsed thoroughly
- 2-3 teaspoons Moroccan Spice
- Pinch of cayenne pepper
- ¾ teaspoon fine grain sea salt
- 3 tablespoons chickpea flour
- ¼ cup hulled sunflower seeds
- ½ tablespoon toasted sesame seed oil
- ¼ cup tahini
- ¼ cup fresh lemon juice (do not use concentrate!)
- 1 tablespoon toasted sesame oil
- 2 tablespoons nutritional yeast
- 3 tablespoons water
- 1 large garlic clove, peeled (minced if you don’t own a high power blender)
- 1/2 teaspoon ground cumin
- ¼ teaspoons fine grain sea salt
- Preheat oven to 400 degrees and line a large baking sheet with parchment paper.
- In the bowl of a food processor, add the garlic and pulse until minced. Add the chopped onion and herbs and pulse 8-9 times (one-second pulses) until the mixture is fine.
- Transfer mixture to a large bowl.
- In the now empty food processor, add the chickpeas and pulse 16-20 times (scraping down the mix as needed) until all the beans are processed but not hummus texture.
- Transfer chickpeas to the large bowl. Add the rest of the ingredients and mix until fully combined.
- With a 1-tablespoon spoon, measure out a two-tablespoon portion of the mixture and form a small patty. Place patty on the lined baking sheet and continue with the rest of the mixture.
- Bake for 30 minutes, turning halfway through the baking time.
- Add all the ingredients to a blender and blend until very smooth. Set aside until the falafels are ready.
- 1-19 ounce can no-salt chickpeas, liquid reserved
- 2 garlic cloves, peeled and roughly chopped
- 1/3 Cup tahini
- ¼ cup fresh water (not from the can)
- 5 tbsp freshly squeezed lemon juice
- 2 Tbsp reserved can liquid
- 5 teaspoons Moroccan Spice
- 1 teaspoon kosher salt, or to taste.
- Pinch of cayenne pepper (or more!)
- Olive oil, drizzle on top (optional)
- Moroccan Spice for garnish (optional)
- Add all the ingredients except the salt to the food processor and blend until fairly smooth.
- Add a portion of the salt to the mixture and blend until the salt is combined. Taste and add more salt if necessary. I use the whole teaspoon myself but you can adjust it to suit your taste.
- Transfer to an airtight Tupperware container and refrigerate.
- Lasts about 5 days in the fridge though it doesn’t usually last that long in my house.
Great post! I love chickpeas, and I love Moroccan spices! I haven’t roasted any for ages – I must amend this as they are such a delicious snack!
Thanks! I LOVE chickpeas but sometimes they need something a little more exotic. The roasted chickpeas act as a great substitute for croutons in a salad. Protein packed and gluten free, hooray!