Falafel... From Pork Rinds!
 

So what do you use to make a LC falafel? There are lots of other recipes out there that replace the chick peas with raw ground cauliflower, almond flour, ground kale or other greens, etc. These don't work for me for various reasons.

Not long ago, I was making WereBear's Griddle Cakes along with some other food on the stove, and I swear I caught a whiff of falafel. A-ha moment! Why wouldn't crushed pork rinds work as a falafel base?

So I tried it, and it worked! I used other ingredients based on other recipes. I'll be tweaking it in the future to try to reduce the inflammatory ingredients.

LC Falafel - Makes 6 patties/2 servings
1 tsp each ground coriander and cumin
pinch of cayenne, or to taste
1 Tbsp dried parsley
1 Tbsp coconut flour
1 tsp garlic powder
1 Tbsp sesame seeds
1 Tbsp finely-chopped onion
1.5 oz ground cashews
1 egg, beaten
2 oz crushed pork rinds

water, 1-4 Tbsp
oil for frying

- Combine first 8 ingredients, then add water 1 Tbsp at a time until you can form patties.
- Heat oil in pan to 350 F. I used extra-light olive oil.
- Fry patties for 4 min, flip, then fry for a few more minutes until browned.
- Serve with tahini sauce.

For the tahini sauce, I combined tahini, a splash of lemon juice, water to thin, then a dollop of chili garlic sauce on top.

Nutrition info excluding frying oil and tahini sauce, for half the recipe/3 patties:
- 389 cal
- 29 g fat
- 13 g total carb - 4 g fiber = 9 g net carb
- 24 g protein

Notes:
- To reduce the inflammatory ingredients, I'll probably skip the sesame seeds and cashews next time. I may try baking them, too, as I've seen in other recipes.
- You could use a better oil for frying, though the flavour might be weird.
- I'd rather use fresh parsley, but I didn't have any on hand.
- I think I'd like it with more onion.
- Most recipes called for fresh garlic. I was out.

This is a solid keeper. :thup:

Wow, these look totally amazing! I love falafel!

I'm currently on an elimination diet, avoiding foods I'm supposedly reactive to according to an everlywell.com blood test. I just started the beginning of the month but I've lost FIVE POUNDS just this week since eliminating these food which included many LC staples like cauliflower. Sadly coconut is one of the reactive foods too so I'd have to skip the coconut flour and find some other sub, but every other ingredient is on the approved list. Well not totally sure about the spices since one of my reactive foods is "curry" yet curry is not a specific thing but a blend of spices including, usually, cumin and coriander, so I might have to avoid those also. Gosh, can't have the garlic either as that's in my reactive list too. Haha, I'm slowly eliminating all the ingredients.

But I can have onion, pork rinds, cashews, sesame seeds, parley, eggs, and I'm sure I can find some spice to use. And I love tahini and have some at home right now.

I've been using crushed pork rinds for a lot of things lately. Almond are also on my reactive list so I have to avoid those too. But falafel sounds so amazing. (and even if I were willing to have "real" falafel chickpeas are on my reactive food list also, LOL)

:yum: :yum: :yum: Oh. um. Yum. Thank you! :yum: :yum: :yum: