Falafel

Here's another bean recipe, inspired by the fact that I'm making them tonight. The name "falafel" here is used in its loosest sense--not super authentic, but easy and tasty.

Falafel:
1 15-oz can chickpeas (about 1 1/2 cups)
1 Tbsp onion powder
1/4 tsp cayenne pepper
dash cumin
2 cloves garlic, minced
pinch of parsley
1/4 cup flour
1 tsp salt
1 egg
oil for frying (you can actually deep fry them, but I just saute in a little oil)

1. Boil chickpeas for 3-5 minutes to soften them up, then drain and rinse them with cold water (if you don't do the cold water they'll be too hot to hand-form--I've made this mistake).
2. While beans are boiling, mix all dry ingredients together in small bowl.
3. Mash chickpeas, lemon juice, garlic and egg in large bowl (a fork works just fine for mashing). Once that's mashed to your liking, add dry mixture and stir until well-coated and sticking together.
4. Heat oil in frying pan on medium. Form mixture into four to six patties and saute 3-4 minutes a side, or longer if you want them crispier.

The great thing about this recipe (besides the quickness) is that all the spices are totally negotiable. I gave you the list that came with the original recipe, but I never really follow it. Often I skip most of the spices and chop up a bunch of sun-dried tomatoes instead (you jus throw them in with the wet stuff). My other favorites are Italian style (garlic, onion, oregano, basil, what-have-you) or spicy southwest style (once I pick up some chipotle powder as per Taryn's suggestion, I bet it will go great in these).

Sometimes I use these as hamburger patties, sometimes we just make them and eat them with veggies on the side.