Green falafel with yogurt & roast beets

Preheat the oven to 190ºC, gas mark 5. Cut the beetroot into bitesized wedges and coat with ½ tbsp olive oil. Season and spread out in a small roasting tin.

Toast the spices in a dry frying pan over a medium heat for 90 seconds, stirring until fragrant. Tip into a blender with the herb stalks and ½ the herb leaves. Add the chilli, garlic, salad onions and peas; pulse to finely chop, stopping to stir with a spatula when it catches. Once a rough paste forms, stir in the chickpeas and blend again, stopping and stirring as before, until mostly smooth (a few chunks are fine) and holding together. Scrape into a bowl and stir in the gram flour; season.

Brush ½ tbsp oil over a baking tray; space 16 tablespoonfuls of the mixture across it. Dipping your fingers in the remaining 1 tbsp oil, shape them into patties, coating lightly with oil. Bake both the beetroot and the falafel for 30 minutes, carefully turning the falafel over halfway through, until golden brown beneath. Leave the falafel to firm up for a few minutes and season the beetroot with lemon juice.

Toast the pitta and serve alongside the falafel and beetroot wedges with the yogurt, remaining herb leaves and lemon wedges to squeeze over.