Falafel- is it vegan?

Question

I'm a relatively new vegan- more in a transitioning phase until I move out of my parent's house for school later next month. I recently bought a falafel mix to try at home- I've eaten falafel donairs out by the beach and such, so its always been my vegetarian-safe meal. I'm curious if I can actually eat it as a vegan. (Full vegan- no animal products or byproducts)

Thanks!

Answer 1

I've never heard of Falafel mix but I do know that Fava Beans are sometimes called Falafelle.  Is that what you're talking about or no?  In case you don't know Fava beans are some what flat and are hard.. they taste sorta like a walnut with a bit of bean taste!  They are very high in protein!  Fava beans are vegan unless you get the canned stuff which you'll have to read the ingredients to see if it is vegan or not!

Answer 2

If you make them at home and use veggie oil they should be ok but check the label just to make sure there's no odd flavoring thrown in.  When you eat them out ask what kind of oil they're cooked in and make sure there's no meat cooked in the batch of oil.

Answer 3

If you want to eat falafel outside of home....beware! They may fry it in the same oil as their meats! Better to make it at home to ensure that it is vegan!

Answer 4

Most falafel is vegan, just read the ingredients. You can make your own falafel too. And most falafel mixes are vegan, a good one is Fantastic Foods.

Make your own:

Perfect Falafel

Ingredients (use vegan versions):

    2 1/2 cups of soaked garbanzo beans

    1 cup of chopped onion

    3/4 cup of parsley leaves (still whole)

    1 tablespoon coriander seeds

    1 tablespoon cumin seeds

    3 teaspoons sea salt

    2 tablespoons egg substitute

    2 tablespoons whole meal flour

Directions:

Put the garbanzos in a blender & mince till you have a fine crumbly texture.

Take out the beans and put in the onion and parsley.  Blend till finely minced (but not puree).

Slightly roast the coriander and cumin seeds over a low heat in frying pan (just till they start to smell and brown ever so slightly), then grind them.

Prepare the egg replacer.

In a big bowl, place the garbanzos and mix in the spices, the onion with the parsley, and then the egg replacer and flour.  Let sit for a while to let flavours blend.

Make small patties and fry in medium-hot canola oil till brown on both sides (turning over a couple of times).

Place on paper towels to let them drain.

Put them in oven so that they may finish cooking on the inside (just in case).

PS: These little wonders will never break apart during frying because they have the egg replacer & the flour inside which binds everything together nicely.  Also, the inclusion of any oil in any falafel mixture will make the water content and the oil to separate the ingredients and cause trouble.  So no worries this time!

Serves: makes around 35

Preparation time: 1 hour (or so)

Vegan food criteria:

http://www.happycow.net/health-animal-in...

http://vegweb.com/index.php?topic=15403....

http://www.vnv.org.au/site/index.php?opt...

http://www.veganconnection.com/notvegan....

http://www.vrg.org/nutshell/faqingredien...

http://www.food-info.net/uk/qa/qa-fi45.h...

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Animal_prod...

http://www.veganwolf.com/animal_ingredie...

http://www.vegansociety.com/html/food/cr...

http://thirty5.org/ipod/

Answer 5

The mix should be fine.  But when eating out, sometimes people will add egg as a binder when they do not have to (Whole Foods).  Don't waste food when it's actually vegan.

Answer 6

Quite often they are vegan- but you would just have to ask specific questions when you order them various places to make sure...

If you make them at home then of course they can be... you have the control on ingedients :)