Before making this dish I had never had authentic or even fake Falafel so I have NO idea whether it turned out or not. It tasted fantastic to me, and Jim ate it all as well, and neither of us died, so I’d say it was a success! The recipe I found at Just a Taste blog called for Tahini sauce and a pita, the traditional way to eat Falafel I suppose but since I didn’t want to (and couldn’t find) tahini I made sort of my own sauce out of things we had lying around already, Falafel definitely needs a fresh sauce to go with it, I think Tzatziki would taste yummy with it as well. I’ve been wanting to make my own Tzatziki, when I get to it I’ll let you all know!
I really, really can’t get over how much I enjoyed these. They are such a good mix of garlic and fresh herbs. I also loved how full I felt after them, they are loaded with protein from the chickpeas and no added salt. Jim isn’t a fan of extra salt so I don’t add any unless I think it absolutely needs it, so try it out, taste as you go, if it needs salt add some!
Quotes from the Farmer
My views of extra spicing are to go easy on the salt and spice while cooking because you can always add more on your own (I also never add more on my own). For the sensitive palate in the group be careful about the amount of garlic in this recipe, it was a bit strong for my taste. Make sure to taste as you go to make sure it’s what you like, and make a little extra yogurt sauce to help balance and calm the spice.
Chickpeas are easy to find and relatively cheap so this is a really low cost meal!
Prep Time: 90 min (includes chilling time)
Cook Time: 6 min
For the falafel:
2 cups roughly chopped white onion
5 medium garlic cloves
2 cups cooked chickpeas, drained
1 cup lightly packed parsley leaves
1 cup lightly packed cilantro leaves
1 teaspoon salt
¼ teaspoon chili powder
2 teaspoons cumin
2 teaspoons baking powder
½ cup all-purpose flour
olive oil, for sauteing
For the sauce:
1¼ cups plain yogurt – we love the plain yogurt from Smyth’s Dairy Farm
2 Tablespoons fresh lemon juice
1 tablespoons chopped cilantro
Directions:
Add the onion and garlic cloves to the bowl of a food processor and pulse just until they are finely minced. Remove the mixture and set it aside.
Add the cooked chickpeas, parsley, cilantro, salt, chili powder, and cumin to the bowl of the food processor and pulse until they are roughly blended but not pureed.
Return the onion mixture to the food processor, along with the baking powder and just enough flour so that when you pulse the processor, the mixture begins to form a small ball and is not sticky.
Transfer the falafel mixture to a bowl, cover it with plastic wrap and refrigerate it for 1 hour.
While the falafel mixture is chilling, prepare the fresh yogurt sauce by whisking together the yogurt and lemon juice, then mix in the cilantro. Cover it and place it in the fridge.
Once the falafel mixture has chilled scoop out with a spoon and/or your hands. (These end up looking like little half meatballs)
Set a large sauté pan over medium heat and add a liberal amount of olive oil so that the pan is well-coated. Let the pan pre-heat for 3 minutes then add the falafel one by one, browning them on the first side for 3 minutes, then flipping them once and browning the second side until the mixture is cooked throughout.
Transfer the falafel to a paper towel-lined cooling rack. Repeat this process until you have cooked all of the falafel.
I made Falafel burgers for our Farm to Table dinner and will post the recipe soon!
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