Homegrown vegan falafels with Gaz Oakley

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Join Gaz Oakley, Joel and Shini as they turn homegrown herbs and veggies into easy, tasty vegan falafels you can make at home. Are you ready to get stuck in and try this delicious recipe?

You will need
  • 2 cups of dried chickpeas, soaked overnight in water
  • Juice 1 lemon
  • 500ml oil for frying
  • 1tbsp paprika
  • 1tbsp ground cumin
  • 1tbsp ground coriander
  • 1tsp salt
  • Fresh parsley
  • Fresh coriander
  • Lettuce
  • Lemon juice
  • Sauce of your choosing
  • Flatbread

How to make vegan falafels

🚨 Ask a grown-up to help with this recipe, you will be required to use sharp and hot objects! 🚨

  1. Soak your dried chickpeas in water for at least 8 hours before you are going to cook, it might be best to do this overnight.

  2. Before you start, wash anything you’ve grown and wash your hands too.

  3. Rinse and drain your soaked chickpeas and add them with fresh herbs, spices, salt and lemon juice into a blender.

  4. Blend everything together until it’s all mixed.

  5. Put the mixture into a bowl and cover and then chill in the fridge for at least 30 minutes.

  6. Take about 1tbsp of falafel mixture and shape into small round discs, about two inches thick.

  7. Pour a little oil into a pan and heat it up.

  8. Shallow‑fry your falafels for around three minutes on each side until they turn golden brown.

  9. Place them on kitchen roll to soak up any extra oil.

  10. Warm a flatbread and build your wrap with your favourite sauce and some fresh lettuce.

  11. Enjoy your tasty homegrown falafels.

Who is Gaz Oakley?

Gaz Oakley is a vegan chef from Wales who shares his colourful plant‑based recipes with millions of people on his social media channels. He’s known for creating tasty, easy meals and for growing lots of his own herbs and veggies, just like the ones he shows Joel and Shini in this episode.

Easy herbs you can grow in the UK

  • Parsley – you can use it in loads of different dishes

  • Coriander – perfect for salads and falafels

  • Mint – grows fast and smells amazing

  • Basil – loves warm windowsills

  • Chives – happy growing in small pots

  • Thyme – tough and low‑maintenance

  • Rosemary – great for sunny spots

  • Oregano – brilliant for pasta dishes

  • Sage – super easy to look after

Did you know?

If you let coriander grow all the way to flowering, it will produce seeds. You can collect these seeds to grow even more coriander or use them in your cooking. Coriander seeds are really popular in curries and lots of other tasty dishes.

Did you know you can grow your own plants in almost anything?

Gaz showed Shini how he turned an old drain pipe into the perfect place to grow lettuce. Because lettuce has shallow roots, it doesn’t need deep soil so a pipe works brilliantly and helps reuse something you might already have at home.

Here’s how Gaz did it:

  • Fill the drain pipe with compost

  • Sprinkle lettuce seeds lightly across the top

  • Water regularly so the soil stays damp

  • After a few weeks, your tiny seeds will grow into fresh, crunchy lettuce you can pick and eat (made sure to wash it)

Try more delicious vegan and vegitarian dishes!

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