Grilled avocado salad with crispy falafel
Recipe
-
20 minutes
-
50 minutes
-
70 minutes
-
4 persons
Have you ever had falafel? It’s a popular vegan snack from the Middle East that is also very easy to prepare on your Big Green Egg. Falafel is a chickpea recipe, which is often served as a vegetarian meal on a sandwich. Would you like to make your own falafel? Then be sure to make a gorgeous grilled avocado salad to go with it. This way, you can serve a great vegan starter or a delicious lunch that everyone will enjoy!
INGREDIENTS
SALAD
- 2 little gem lettuces
- 1 red onion
- 8 green asparagus
- 1 slice of sushi ginger
- ½ lime
- 3 avocados
- 3 tbsp olive oil
FALAFEL
- 500 g chickpeas (tin, drained)
- 1 shallot
- 1 clove of fresh garlic
- 1 tbsp olive oil
- 1 tsp ground turmeric
- 1 tsp ground cumin seed
- 1 tsp Madras curry powder
- ½ tsp smoked paprika powder (hot)
- ½ bunch of curly-leaf parsley
- ½ bunch of coriander
- 1 tbsp flour
- 1 tbsp baking powder
- 4 tbsp sunflower oil
TO SERVE
- 1 sprig of coriander
- 2 sprigs of chives
- ½ tsp black sesame seed
PREPARATION IN ADVANCE
- Ignite the charcoal in the Big Green Egg and heat, with the convEGGtor, and the Cast Iron Grid to a temperature of 180°C.
- Meanwhile, drain the chickpeas for the falafel. Peel and slice the shallot and the garlic.
- For the salad, cut the little gem lettuces into very thin strips. Peel the red onion and cut into 4 even strips. Remove the hard ends of the green asparagus. Chop the sushi ginger finely and squeeze the juice from the lime.
PREPARATION
- For the falafel, heat the olive oil in the Green Dutch Oven. Add the shallot, the garlic, the chickpeas and spices (turmeric, ground cumin seed, curry powder, paprika powder) and fry until the shallot is glazed. Remove the Dutch Oven from the EGG and allow the chickpea mixture to cool.
- Halve the avocados and remove the stones. Brush the cut side of the avocado halves, the onion slices and the asparagus with 2 tablespoons of olive oil. Place the avocado halves (cut side down), the onion slices and asparagus on the grid and grill for approx. 3 minutes. Move the asparagus after about 1.5 minutes and rotate the avocado halves and onion slices a quarter of a turn. Turn over the onion slices and asparagus and grill them again for 3 minutes; move the asparagus again after about 1.5 minutes. Close the lid of the EGG after each action.
- Scoop the flesh out of the avocado halves and cut into small cubes (save the peel for serving). Halve the asparagus and cut the bottom half into small cubes. Push the core out of the onion slices so you are left with 4 nice rings; the core of the onion will not be used. Set aside the upper halves of the asparagus and the onion rings for serving. Mix the avocado with the asparagus cubes, the finely chopped little gem, the sushi ginger, the lime juice and the rest of the olive oil and season the salad with salt and pepper. Fill 4 half avocado shells with the avocado salad. You won’t need the other avocado shells.
- For the falafel, pick the leaves from the parsley and coriander. Blend the herbs with the cooled chickpea mixture in the food processor; it must still have some texture. Mix the flour, baking powder and salt and pepper to taste through the chickpea mixture.
- Heat the sunflower oil in the Cast Iron Skillet (small). Make quenelles from the chickpea mixture with 2 tablespoons, and fry them in the skillet until golden brown on both sides.
- Before serving, pick the coriander leaves and cut the chives into pieces of a few centimetres. Place an onion ring on each salad-filled avocado half. Fill it with a few falafels. Place the reserved asparagus halves on the salad, sprinkle with the sesame seeds and garnish with the coriander and chives.
TIP
You can also serve the filled avocado halves on a circle of black radish. To do this, peel a piece of black radish of about 4 cm and cut it into 4 slices. Use a cutting ring on the slices to form circles of approx. 1 cm thick.
Print
NEWSLETTER
If you’d like to receive the most delicious recipes by email, register for our newsletter ‘Inspiration Today’ and add more flavour to your inbox. That’s all you have to do to receive the latest news about events, recipes especially for your EGG, practical tips and much, much more!
THE BIG GREEN EGG COMMUNITY
Let yourself be inspired and learn to do more with your Big Green Egg! Submerge yourself in a world full of culinary possibilities. Ask your questions and share your experiences via Facebook (biggreeneggeu) and Instagram (biggreeneggeu). Tag @biggreeneggeu, use the hashtags #TheEvergreen and #forevergreen and get featured! We create beautiful memories. Are you in?