Falafel Success !

Last week I made a falafel recipe and it was a complete fail. This week I gave it another try and…..success!

I love falafel! Every time I go to a fair or the Tulip Fest, I have to find  a vendor who is selling falafel. Yum, wrapped in the pita bread, covered in yogurt sauce!

I know that falafel is normally fried in oil to give it that crisp on the outside. I decided to try and bake them to cut down on the calories and fat.

Last week I had made this recipe but I put all the ingredients in food processor and it basically made a falafel puree. It was like chickpea mash potatoes. It taste good but not what I was looking for. Of course I ate all of them. I can’t waste food.

I decided to try again but this time I mashed the chickpeas by hand.

 

I used a potato masher and I worked perfectly. No puree this time.

Then I added about 3/4 cup of chopped onion.

This was the biggest onion I think I’ve ever bought. Scary to think what they do to it for it to get that big.

Chopped up and it to the chickpeas!

Time for mix-ins!!! Lemon juice, parsley, cilantro and bread crumbs.

After a taste, I added, chopped garlic, coriander, salt, pepper and then an egg white to hold it all together. All mixed it and now it’s time to roll up my sleeves.

I balled the mixture up and put them in individual muffins tins. I love my muffin tin!!

In the oven, they crisped up on the outside and didn’t fall apart at all!! Falafel success!

It tasted GREAT on top of a salad with a drizzle of yogurt sauce.

 

Baked Falafel Cakes

• 2  15 oz cans of chickpeas
• 1 small onion chopped  (about 3/4 cup)
• 1/2 c of bread crumbs
• 1/2 tbl of lemon juice
• 1 tbl of dried parsley
• 1/2 tbl of fresh cilantro
• 2 chopped cloves of garlic
• 2 tsp of coriander
• salt and pepper to taste
• 1 egg white

Preheat oven to 375 degrees. Drain and rinse the chickpeas and mash by hand until coarsely mashed. Then add in all remaining ingredients and blend well. Form into balls the size of a golf ball and pressed into muffin tins. You could also from them into patties and baked them on a cookie sheet.

Bake for 25 minutes or until browned up on top. 

Yogurt Sauce

• 1 cup of plain yogurt
• 1 tsp of lemon juice
• 1 tsp of fresh cilantro

Mix together and chill in the refrigerator.