Falafel!!

For my birthday, which was on May 30th, I got lots of awesome kitchen supplies such as a rice cooker, a blender, and a food processor!! Since I finally had a real human-sized processor, I decided to finally make some falafel. I must warn you, there are A LOT of pictures in this post.

First, I decided to make tzatziki (yogurt) sauce. This is the only part of the recipe that is not vegan. If you follow a vegan diet, you can use a tahini-based sauce such as the one found here.

Simple Yogurt Sauce

Ingredients
- 1 cup plain lowfat yogurt
- 1 medium cucumber, peeled and seeds removed
- 1 clove garlic, minced
- 1 tbsp. lemon juice
- 1/2 teaspoon cumin
- a dash of dill (optional)


My ingredients.

Directions
In a small bowl (I used my mini food processor), mix all of the ingredients well.


Once mixed, let cool in refrigerator, to maximize flavor.


Now that we have our super delicious cucumber sauce, it's time to make the falafel.

Ingredients*
- 1 lb. dried chickpeas (garbanzo beans)
- 1/2 large onion, coarsely chopped
- 4 cloves of garlic, finely diced
- 1 tablespoon flour
- 1 teaspoon ground coriander
- 1 teaspoon baking soda
- 1/2 teaspoon ground cumin
- salt and pepper to taste
- oil for frying

*These measurements make enough to serve 6 people

My ingredients.

Directions
*Soak the chickpeas in cold water in the refrigerator overnight.*

The next day, drain the chickpeas and mix with onion and the rest of the ingredients in a food processor.


Mix it very well, stopping the processor occasionally to scrape the mixture. Once it looks complete, process the mixture for a second time for 2-4 minutes.

Mmm...chickpeas.

Next, pour some oil into a large pan on medium heat. Take the mixture and clump it together to form walnut sized balls.


Place the balls in the pan and fry them up until golden-brown.


While the falafel fries, slice up some tomato and lettuce for serving. Also, halve pita bread.



Some of my falafel came out well-done. :P

And that's it! Stuff the pitas with lettuce, tomato, and falafel, using cucumber sauce to drizzle over the top. I also served this with extra sauce on the side because the falafel was a little bland.


My pita bread was too dry. :(

Overall, this was a very good dish and very easy to make (although pretty messy). The only change I would make next time is to add more spices into the falafel mix such as curry, red pepper flakes, and more garlic. Other than that, A+ and super filling too!!