Beetroot, carrot and sesame falafels with sweet potato crisps

I’m sure I’ll get into trouble with someone for calling these falafel, but I’m only really doing so because of the chickpea content (and it sounds a little grander than calling them veggie burgers – which just makes me think of those disgustingly soggy bean burgers that Burger King used to do).

Anyway, I had some guests on Friday – my friend Jane and her two lovely daughters Marnie, who’s eight, and Nina, who is five – so, as well as using up the usual end-of-week remains from my fridge, I had to come up with something I thought the kids would enjoy eating.

I had a couple of golden beetroot, a sweet potato, a carrot, and a bit of salad to use up, so I bought a tin of chickpeas, a packet of sesame seeds and some pitta, which all combined to make a build-your-own-sandwich supper.

The grated beetroot and carrot was softened in a little olive oil. I chucked the chickpeas into the food processor with an egg and some lemon zest, and whizzed it up until it was fairly smooth, then combined it with the cooked veg in a bowl. I sprinkled some sesame seeds on a plate and rolled each ball in them, which added a nice nutty crunch when fried.

The sweet potato crisps were so easy to make and SOOO delicious, I think they are going to become a firm favourite in my kitchen. Simply slice the sweet potato very thinly (leaving the skin on), arrange them on a baking sheet and bake in an oven heated to gas mark 5, for about 40 minutes or so. You don’t even need to season them really, they have so much natural flavour.

Unfortunately, the meal was not a complete success with the kids. Marnie loved the crisps but wasn’t so sure about the falafel, while Nina decided she was only going to eat pitta bread! Luckily, Jane was a big fan of the whole meal and, between the two of us, we managed to pretty much clear the plates – ours and the kids!

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