Delicious!
I’ve been so psyched to have my veggie burger recipe (http://www.sundewhiteindustries.com/delicious-veggie-burger-recipe/) through this Shelter in Place world pandemic because it seems like it’s kind of difficult to get meat right now and because we’ve been enjoying our veggie burgers so much, I haven’t even worried about obtaining any meat.
So I started to think about what other meatless meal I could make and just keep in my fridge and I thought of Falafels. I tweaked some recipes and came up with this one and I really like it. I was totally scared to fry them because I never fry anything but it was so easy.
So here is the recipe for the Falafels but I’ve also included the recipes for the Tahini Sauce, Hummus and a nice cucumber and tomato salad. I coat the pita with the hummus, put the hot falafels in, put tomato/cucumber salad on top, dribble on the tahini sauce and sprinkle on fresh cilantro on top. PS-The Cumcumber/Tomato salad is really nice just on its own. Obviously you can buy the hummus but I was just curious to learn how to make it so I did and I really liked how it came out.
Falafels!
*Note: Do not use canned chickpeas (garbanzo beans) because they are too soft and won’t hold up. You must use dry ones and soak them in water for at least 24 hours! I got lazy and left them in water for 2 days and I actually liked how soft they turned out. I kept checking them and they were still pretty hard after just 24 hours.
1 lb dry chickpeas soaked in water for at least 24 hours.
1 tbsp sesame seeds
½ an onion
3-5 cloves of garlic
2 tbsp flour
1 ¾ tsp salt
2 tsp cumin
¼ tsp black pepper
¼ tsp cayenne
¼ cup parsley
Vegetable oil for frying
Instructions:
Drain and rinse soaking chickpeas. Combine all ingredients into a food processor and pulse until combined and completely broken down into crumbs that hold together. Let rest in fridge for a few hours and then make into golf ball sized fritters and pop in fridge until ready to fry.
In a heavy bottomed sauce pan put in oil about an inch deep. I heated it up on medium high heat and kept it there, testing to see when it was ready by putting a couple crumbs in. When it immediately started bubbling around the edges of the crumb I knew the oil was hot enough. Cook on each side about 2 or 3 minutes until they are completely dark golden brown.
Cut a pita in half, add hummus, one falafel, the salad, tahini sauce and sprinkle cilantro on top. If I’m hungry I eat two of these!
Hummus
2 cans drained and rinsed chickpeas (Garbanzo Beans)
¼ cup of the reserved chick pea liquid
1 ¼ tsp salt
5 cloves of garlic
1/3 cup Tahini Sauce (found in Middle Eastern stores, this is made of sesame seeds)
Juice of one large lemon
4-5 dashes of hot sauce
1/8 tsp cayenne
2 tbsp olive oil
Water to loosen up hummus to your preferred thickness
Instructions:
Combine all ingredients except the olive oil, hot sauce and water. Blend until very smooth and creamy, add olive oil and blend. Add hot sauce to taste and at this point fiddle with it so you like it. I added more water because I didn’t want it too thick. This seems a little too salty at first but the saltiness settles down in the fridge and also it was kind of nice having the extra saltiness in the overall Falafel.
Tahini Sauce
1 cup Tahini Sauce
1 cup lukewarm water
3 garlic cloves
Juice of one lemon
1 tsp salt
1 tbsp fresh parsley
1/8 tsp red wine vinegar
1 tsp white sugar
Cracked black pepper to taste
Instructions:
Blend everything together in a food processor until smooth. Adjust salt and acid to your taste and add more water if you’d like it to be looser. I found the flavor of this sauce on its own to be a little bit bitter and earthy but in unison with all the falafel ingredients it’s really nice. So don’t give up on it if you taste it while you’re making it and are like, “bleh”, it will be really nice in the final product.
Cucumber Tomato Feta Salad
2 pints cherry or little plum tomatoes, cut in half
1 ½ large cucumbers, chopped
½ red onion, finely chopped
1 finely chopped garlic clove
2 tbsp parsley
1 block feta cheese (there’s usually an average size in packages, sorry not sure of oz or lbs)
Salt and Pepper to taste
Instructions:
Combine all ingredients in bowl and set aside. I like to use the whole block of Feta but it’s up to your taste. Add to top of falafel and sprinkle with fresh cilantro!
