Falafel with Creamy Tahini-Yogurt Sauce

I don’t know why, but earlier this summer I started craving falafel. And Foxy Falafel, my go-to source for truly great falafel, is limited to curbside pick-up during the pandemic. Deep-fried food just doesn’t travel well, and I’m thinking it wouldn’t be as amazing by the time I got it home.

This led me to look for an authentic recipe that would satisfy my craving. I found it and must share—it’s that good! Plus, it’s not deep-fried–yay! Golden brown and crispy on the outside, soft and fluffy on the inside with all those signature falafel herbs and spices, it’s served with a creamy tahini-yogurt sauce, thinly sliced radishes, cucumber, red onion, and tomatoes from our garden. All piled on a whole wheat tortilla or, if you have time, stuffed in my whole wheat pita bread, it’s a nutritious, delicious all-in-one meal.

There’s nothing difficult or time-consuming about this other than the need to plan ahead and start soaking the dried chickpeas the night before (canned chickpeas won’t work here). And after soaking, you don’t have to cook the beans, which makes this recipe even easier! Everything else comes together quickly enough for a weeknight meal. A very special weeknight meal! Enjoy!

• Servings: 4
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Adapted from this Downshiftology recipe
This recipe is naturally gluten-free and all that’s needed to make it vegan is to use a tahini sauce without the yogurt, like this one.

1 cup dried chickpeas (canned won’t work in this recipe)

About half of a medium yellow onion, roughly chopped

1 cup fresh parsley, in between loosely and tightly packed

1 cup fresh cilantro, in between loosely and tightly packed

1 medium jalapeño pepper, seeded and diced

3 cloves garlic, minced

1 heaping teaspoon ground cumin

1 teaspoon salt

½ teaspoon ground cardamom

Several grinds of black pepper

2 tablespoons chickpea flour

½ teaspoon baking soda

Grapeseed or avocado oil for pan-frying (or another neutral oil of choice)

Tahini-yogurt sauce, recipe follows

Flour or corn tortillas or my whole wheat pita bread

Accompaniments:
Thinly sliced radishes, cucumbers, red onion, diced tomato

The night before you plan to make the falafel, place the chickpeas in a pot and cover with water by 2-3 inches (the chickpeas will triple in size and you want to make sure they stay submerged). Cover pot and set aside.

The next day, drain and rinse the chickpeas and add them to your food processor (after draining, I dump them onto a clean kitchen towel and pat them dry before putting them in the food processor).

Add the onion, parsley, cilantro, jalapeño, garlic, cumin, salt, cardamom, and black pepper to the food processor and process until the mixture is the texture of coarse sand (you may have to stop and scrape down the sides a couple times).

Transfer the mixture to a large bowl and stir in the chickpea flour and baking soda. Cover and refrigerate for 30-60 minutes.

Preheat oven to 200 degrees F. Place a cooling rack on a baking sheet and place it in oven.

Heat a cast iron pan over medium heat. Add a couple tablespoons oil. When oil is hot, form falafel mixture into balls (I used a #30 cookie dough scoop, which is about 1 ½-2 tablespoons) and place in hot pan. Flatten slightly with a spatula. You’ll have to do this in batches—don’t crowd the falafels.

If the mixture seems too wet, add another tablespoon of chickpea flour. If it seems too dry, add a tablespoon of water (I didn’t need to do either both times I have made this recipe).

Cook the falafels for about 3 minutes, until golden brown on the bottom. Flip and cook another 3 minutes. Remove to rack in oven to stay warm. Repeat with remaining falafel mixture. You will probably need to add more oil to the pan.

Serve in warm tortillas or pita with a swoosh of tahini-yogurt sauce, several falafels, tomato, radish, cucumber, or other toppings of choice. Makes about 4 servings or 18-20 falafel.

Creamy Tahini Yogurt Sauce
From this Feasting at Home recipe

¾ cup plain Greek yogurt (I used 2%)

¼ cup tahini

2 garlic cloves, grated on a micro-plane

Juice of one medium lemon

½ to 1 teaspoon kosher salt (my tahini was salt-free, so I used the full teaspoon)

Freshly ground black pepper, to taste

Wisk all ingredients in small bowl until thoroughly combined and creamy. Can make a day or two ahead of time. Cover and refrigerate until use.

 

Sweet Potato Chickpea Patties with Tangy Coleslaw

Two new-to-me recipes came together last night in a flavor combination that was a total winner. All they needed was a little spicy barbeque sauce and we had a dinner to rave about. By the way, I’m currently obsessed with Trader Joe’s Organic Sriracha and Roasted Garlic BBQ Sauce—smoky and seriously spicy, and extraordinarily delicious! I may just have to work on a homemade version.

I’ve wanted to share the coleslaw recipe since Father’s Day when I made it for the first time. It’s adapted from Minnesota’s Bounty: The Farmers Market Cookbook by Beth Dooley, which is getting a lot of use in my kitchen now that the farmers markets around here are in full swing (and soon so will our garden!).

I love this cookbook and if you garden or frequent farmers markets you will too. It’s divided into sections for fruit, vegetables, cheeses, grains and meat & fish, along with recipes for some essentials like mayonnaise, vinaigrettes, pastry crust and a spiked whipped cream. There are wonderful recipes for all the amazing goods found at the markets in the upper Midwest and if you enjoy seasonal cooking, you need this book! It’s a resource and guide that will give you new ideas for beautiful, healthy dishes with the freshest foods possible.

The coleslaw is great by itself, as the crowning touch on the Barbequed Pulled “Pork” I shared recently, or on these hearty and filling Sweet Potato Chickpea Patties—it’s pretty and extra tangy with the addition of Greek yogurt.
Doing some mindless food Googling the other day, I came across the Sweet Potato Chickpea Patties. Included with the original recipe was a simple guacamole of chopped avocado, red onion, lime juice and salt, and I topped the patties with that the first time I made them. DeeeeLish! But after my Sunday farmers market trip, I had red & green cabbage and carrots on hand. Sadly, we don’t have avocados at the Minnesota farmers markets and we have to rely on the supermarket variety, which can’t possibly be as good as fresh off the tree.

Bonus—any patty & coleslaw leftovers make a great lunch for work tomorrow—as I can attest. Pack little barbeque sauce too. Enjoy!

• Servings: 4
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Coleslaw:
Adapted from Minnesota’s Bounty: The Farmers Market Cookbook by Beth Dooley

4 cups shredded (or thinly sliced) green cabbage

4 cups shredded (or thinly sliced) red cabbage

1 ½ cups shredded carrot

1 tablespoons Dijon mustard

2 teaspoons organic sugar

¼ cup white wine vinegar

½ cup mayonnaise (I used Vegan Earth Balance Mindful Mayo—soooo good!)

¼ cup 2% Greek yogurt

½ teaspoon celery seed, or more if you’d like

Salt & freshly ground black pepper, to taste

In a large bowl, toss cabbages and carrot until combined. In a small bowl, whisk together mustard, sugar, vinegar, mayo, yogurt and celery seed. Pour over cabbage/carrot mixture and toss until thoroughly combined. Season with salt and pepper. Serve cold; best made a day or two ahead of serving. Serves 6.

Sweet Potato Chickpea Patties:
Adapted from this Cooking Light recipe

2 ½ tablespoons extra-virgin olive oil, divided

½ cup chopped yellow or sweet onion

½ cup chopped red bell pepper

4 cloves garlic, minced

1 jalapeño, minced, seeds removed if you don’t want the heat

1 ¾ cup grated, uncooked sweet potato (about 8 ounces)

½ teaspoon salt

½ teaspoon freshly ground black pepper

½ cup panko bread crumbs (or rolled oats for a gluten-free version)

1 ½ tablespoon fresh squeezed lime juice

½ teaspoon smoked paprika

1 15 oz. can chickpeas, rinsed and drained

1 large egg

Bottled or homemade barbeque sauce, for serving.

Preheat oven to 400 degrees F. Line a large baking sheet with parchment paper.

In a large skillet, over medium heat, heat 1 tablespoon of the olive oil until shimmering. Add the onion, bell pepper, garlic, and jalapeño and sauté for several minutes. Stir in the sweet potato, salt and pepper and cook for several more minutes.

Place the sweet potato mixture, panko, lime juice, smoked paprika, chickpeas and egg in the bowl of a food processor. Pulse until the chickpeas are coarsely ground.

Form the mixture into 4 patties. Heat the remaining olive oil in the skillet over medium heat. When hot, add the patties (you may have to do this in two batches to avoid over-crowding) to the pan and cook 3 minutes. Flip and cook 3 minutes more.

Transfer cooked patties to prepared baking pan. Bake 20-25 minutes. Serve with barbeque sauce and top with coleslaw. Makes four patties.

Chickpea Salad Sandwiches

On Wednesdays there’s a small farmers’ market in our neighborhood. Right on my way home, it has become a regular stop after work. A couple of firsts of the season today, sweet corn and tomatoes. Although we’d been patiently waiting, I was a bit surprised to see both. The tomatoes were deeply red and quite large, which made me question how they could be local. The friendly vendor explained they certainly were, but greenhouse-grown; in soil, as opposed to hydroponically. She assured me they’d be just as flavorful as the ones grown outdoors we’d be seeing at the market next month. A sample proved she wasn’t exaggerating! Tomatoes bursting with that taste of late summer I wasn’t expecting in July.

My wheels were spinning and in my mind those tomatoes were sliced, salted & peppered, and topping off a splendid summer sandwich. How convenient that right in front of me was the Grateful Bread stand! Out of River Falls, Wisconsin (with no website I could find to link to), they make delicious breads with unique ingredient blends. Last time I bought a loaf that included spent grain from the beer brewing process at River Falls’ Rush River Brewing Company. Today it was a whole wheat that included quinoa, amaranth, millet, buckwheat, flax seed, oats, rye, pumpkin seeds, and sunflower seeds. Fresh and soft, perfect for a sandwich.

Lately I’ve been putting lots of farmers’ market veggies to use in a chickpea salad. It’s sort of tuna salad’s hippie vegetarian cousin. Mashed chickpeas, onion, radishes, garlic scapes (when I can get them), fennel, hot peppers, cabbage, and celery seed. A versatile salad, you can use whatever you have on hand beyond the chickpeas. It’s all mixed together with salt, pepper and a little mayo (once again, I’ll mention the outstanding and vegan Earth Balance Mindful Mayo—so, so good!), but, if you’re mayo-averse, you could use Greek yogurt or a mixture of mashed avocado with a little lime juice in its place.

On a crusty roll or good quality bread with peppery arugula and sliced ripe tomatoes, this is a meal of a sandwich. Or for a gluten-free option, spoon some chickpea salad on top a bed of wild rice. Finish it off with avocado slices or maybe some micro greens. Enjoy!

• Servings: 4
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1 ½ cups cooked chickpeas (garbanzo beans) or 1 can, rinsed and drained

½ cup chopped white or sweet onion

2-3 garlic scapes, chopped

3 radishes, diced

1-2 fennel stalks, chopped (or one celery stalk, chopped)

½ cup shredded green cabbage

1 tablespoon chopped hot pepper (jalapeño or hot cherry peppers work well)

¼ teaspoon celery seed

A couple tablespoons mayo, Greek yogurt, or mashed avocado sprinkled with fresh lime juice

Salt & freshly ground black pepper, to taste

Topping options: Arugula, lettuce, avocado, tomato, micro greens, sunflower seeds

Place chickpeas in a medium bowl and mash with a potato masher or fork. Add onion, scapes, radish, fennel, cabbage, hot pepper, and celery seed. Mix to combine. Stir in mayo. Season with salt and pepper and mix again.

Serve on crusty rolls, good quality bread, or a bed of wild rice. Makes about 4 servings.

 

 

A New Year’s Eve Dinner Party: Grilled Pear Crostini and Winter Vegetable Israeli Couscous

Happy 2014 to you all! I hope everyone had a wonderful holiday season full of family, friends, love and great food!

Pete and I were fortunate to have a little vacation time right after Christmas and spent a couple nights in favorite cities sandwiched around a couple nights at the cabin (while Otis enjoyed a little vacation of his own at the pet resort). Arriving at the cold cabin, it was around 30 F. degrees outside, but even colder inside. After Pete got an inferno going in the wood stove, the temperature climbed to a balmy 32!

Gradually the warmth spread throughout the cabin and we had a comfortable evening listening to the WTIP’s eclectic programming and relearning backgammon (neither of us had played since college!). The next day was an active one spent running and snowshoeing in gently falling snow, but the outside temps plummeted that afternoon and by our second morning “roughing” it, outside it was -15 F., which made it all the more challenging to keep the cabin interior toasty, but we remained close to warm—lots of layers helped!

The sub-zero temperatures rewarded us with stunning views lakeside. Ice formations were spectacular and the steam rising off the warmer-than-air-temp lake gave the sunny morning an extraordinary look.

Back home now for a couple days, we decided a New Year’s Eve dinner in was the celebration of choice. One of my favorite Christmas gifts, from my brother and sister-in-law with impeccable taste, was Plenty: Vibrant Vegetable Recipes from London’s Ottolenghi by Yotam Ottolenghi. Trying out a few new recipes was a perfect way to spend the evening.

Grilled Pear Crostini was our first course. Adapted for taste preferences and what we had on hand, this was both pretty and delicious, and is an appetizer that would go over big at any dinner party. Make sure your pears aren’t too ripe or they will fall apart on the grill pan.
Our second course was a re-do of the salad I made for Christmas, an orange-pistachio salad, flecked with red onion and tossed with orange juice-Dijon vinaigrette. Recipe coming in a future post.

A bold and hearty Winter Vegetable Israeli Couscous was our entrée. Spicy and filling, the perfect dish for a celebration dinner on a night where temperatures continue to remain stuck below zero. Wanting to avoid a trip the grocery store, I adapted it for what I had in my fridge and pantry, and have included both recipes as I made them.

Dessert was thawed from the freezer—leftovers of our Christmas Apple Pear Galette with Cinnamon-Buttermilk Glaze, paired with a scoop of vanilla bean ice-cream. After dinner champagne by the fire brought us to a midnight toast and welcome of the New Year. May it be your best ever!

Grilled Pear Crostini
Makes 2-4 servings

1/3 cup pine nuts, toasted
5 tablespoons extra-virgin olive oil, divided
1 clove garlic, minced
Salt and freshly ground black pepper
4-6 slices whole wheat baguette, cut 1 ½ inches thick
2 semi-ripe pears (unpeeled)
2 teaspoons sugar
2 teaspoons freshly squeezed lemon juice
4-5 ounces good quality mozzarella cheese, shredded
1 tablespoon chopped fresh tarragon, for garnish

Preheat oven to 400 degrees F. In a food processor, process pine nuts, 4 tablespoons olive oil, garlic, and a bit of salt and black pepper to a coarse paste. Spread a thin layer of paste on each slice of baguette. Place bread slices on a baking sheet and toast in the oven for about 8 minutes. Remove from oven and set aside.

Meanwhile, cut each pear lengthwise into 6 wedges and remove the core with a knife. Toss the pear wedges in a bowl with the remaining tablespoon olive oil, sugar, lemon juice, and a pinch of salt.

Heat a ridged cast iron grill pan over high heat until very hot. Using a tongs, place the pear slices in the pan and cook for about one minute to make char marks, then turn with tongs and cook for one minute longer on the other side. Remove the pears carefully with tongs.

To assemble crostini, sprinkle each toasted bread slice with cheese and top with a couple pear slices. Bake for 3-4 minutes, until cheese is somewhat melted. Remove from oven and sprinkle with chopped tarragon and freshly ground black pepper. Serve immediately.

Winter Vegetable Israeli Couscous
Serves 4

2 medium carrots, peeled and cut into chunks
10-12 baby blonde or gold potatoes, cut into quarters
4 large or 8 small shallots, peeled and cut into ½ inch chunks
2 cinnamon sticks
¼ teaspoon five spice powder
3 bay leaves
4 tablespoons olive oil, divided
Salt
½ teaspoon ground ginger
¼ teaspoon ground turmeric
¼ teaspoon hot paprika (or sweet paprika, plus a pinch of cayenne)
¼ teaspoon crushed red pepper flakes

2 ¼ cups cubed winter squash or pumpkin

½ cup golden raisins
1 can chickpeas (garbanzo beans), drained, reserving liquid
Vegetable broth or stock to make 1 ½ cups when combined with reserved bean liquid

1 cup Israeli couscous (or regular or whole wheat couscous; quinoa for a gluten-free version, cooked according to package directions)
large pinch of saffron
1 ¼ cup vegetable broth or stock
2 tablespoons butter, broken into pieces

1 tablespoon harissa
Zest of half a lemon
Freshly squeezed juice of half a lemon

Chopped tarragon, Italian parsley, or cilantro for garnish

Preheat oven to 375 degrees F. In a large baking dish, combine the carrots, potatoes, and shallots with cinnamon sticks, five spice powder, bay leaves, three tablespoons olive oil, ½ teaspoon salt, and the remaining spices, until vegetables are evenly coated. Cook for 15 minutes.

Add the cubed squash, tossing to incorporate, and continue cooking for about 35 minutes, until vegetables have softened, but are not mushy. Add raisins, chickpeas, and broth with reserved chickpea liquid. Cook an additional 10 minutes, or until heated through. Stir the harissa, lemon juice, and lemon zest into the vegetables. Taste and add salt, if needed.

About 10 minutes before vegetables are done, heat to boiling the 1 ¼ cup vegetable broth, remaining 1 tablespoon olive oil, saffron and a pinch of salt. Add Israeli couscous, and simmer for about 10 minutes. Add the butter and stir into couscous and cover until butter is melted.

To serve, place several large spoonsful of couscous in a shallow bowl. Top with a large ladle full of vegetable mixture, including liquid. Garnish with chopped tarragon, Italian parsley, or cilantro. Enjoy!