Pea Falafel (and Burgers)

The problem with buying a kilo of split peas is that pea soup only needs about half a kilo. Fortunately, Alton Brown has a recipe for pea burgers. Those who want to try it can easily find it themselves. We made them, and we found them to be good, if not unusually good. Pretty much like solid pea soup with some extra seasoning and breadcrumbs.

With pea burger batter left over the next day, my mind turned to something I've often thought about: can one make falafel with legumes other than chickpeas? I think it would be cool to do a four color falafel dish, one regular, one black bean, one kidney bean, and one pea (brown, black, red, green). It made sense, therefore, to try and fry this pea burger batter into pea falafel balls.

It worked, too, as long as I kept the oil around 350 degrees (F). This is pretty hard to do on a ceramic electric stove, so sometimes the oil would be too hot and burn them, and sometimes it would be too cold in which case the falafel would sort of disintegrate into the oil.

We put the pea falafel in pita and ate it with vetegables, like regular falafel. I personally prefer regular falafel, but this wasn't bad. It was good to try once, though I don't have much desire to make it again. I'd sooner just make another pea soup, which is easier. Plus, anything you make with split peas is going to end up tasting like pea soup anyway.