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!
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: 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 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.
Falafel with Creamy Tahini-Yogurt Sauce
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.
Thinly sliced radishes, cucumbers, red onion, diced tomato
From this Feasting at Home recipe
Finding my Inner Chef 