Baked Purple Sweet Potato Falafel

Two days ago I looked in my refrigerator and found 3 beets begging to be used. Unfortunately I was in no mood to eat them... but I decided to roast them anyways, and have them as a snack over the next couple of days.  It drives me crazy to turn the oven on so high for so long when roasting beets and other root veggies; so I decided to be "green" and  include all of my bake-able foods in the oven with the beets.
I had some incredible Purple Fleshed Sweet Potatoes that my boss bought me in Chinatown, which I baked along with a huge Sweet Potato.  The Purple Sweet Potatoes are full of nutrients, due to the color of their flesh, but strangely have white skin.  They taste like normal Sweet Potatoes, but they are a bit drier.  I was originally planning on using the purple potatoes to make a Purple Sweet Potato Pie, but... changed my mind.

Earlier this week I made a delicious Tahini Chipotle Sauce for a Warm Sweet Potato, Zucchini, and Bulgar Salad (which I promise to share soon).  The taste of Tahini was still on my mind this morning, so I decided to try a Miso Tahini Sauce, and put it on Baked Sweet Potato Falafel.  Baked PURPLE Sweet Potato Falafel to be exact.

I found this Falafel recipe on 101Cookbooks.com, and have been meaning to try it since Heidi posted it LAST YEAR! I have made a few changes, like using Purple Sweet Potatoes instead of the normal ones.  Also, I did not have Chickpea Flour, so I used a bit of Ground Flax.  The result is a beautiful and interesting ball of incredible flavor and with a smooth texture.  So good, that I don't care to use my Miso Tahini Sauce.
I think a Pita with some of those Roasted Beets, and Roasted Zucchini will be a good use of my Sauce.  The Baked Falafel is fine just as it is.

Baked Purple Sweet Potato Falafel 

(find original recipe HERE)

3 Small Purple Sweet Potatoes OR 2 medium sweet potatoes (orange inside), about 1 1/2 pounds1 1/2 tsp ground cumin
2 small cloves of garlic, chopped
1 1/2 tsp ground coriander
1 big handful or fresh Mint Chopped, OR 2 handfuls of fresh cilantro/coriander, chopped
Juice of half a lemon a scant cup chickpea flour (gram flour) OR  1 tbsp Flax Ground Seed
a splash of olive oil
a sprinkling of sesame seeds ( I didn't have any)
salt and pepper

Preheat the oven to 425F degrees and roast the sweet potatoes whole until just tender - 45 minutes to 1 hour. Turn off the oven, leave the potatoes to cool, then peel.

Put the sweet potatoes, cumin, garlic, ground and fresh coriander, lemon juice and chickpea flour into a large bowl. Season well, and mash until smooth with no large chunks. Chill in the refrigerator to firm for about 1 hour. Mixture should become sticky, no longer wet.  It seems to me that there is less water content in the Purple Sweet Potato, but if using Orange fleshed potatoes, you may want to add more chickpea flour to achieve desired stickiness.

Reheat the oven to 400F/200C. Using a couple of soup spoons (put a well-heaped spoonful of mix in one spoon and use the concave side of the other to shape the sides) or a falafel scoop if you have one, make the mixture into falafel balls, and put them on an oiled tray. Sprinkle sesame seeds on top and bake in the oven for around 15 minutes, until the bases are golden brown.

Makes about 18 falafel, enough for 4 - 6.