Baked Falafel Salad

Jeremy loves Falafel. I found recipes and tried a couple of times but I didn't have any success. When we were watching Ellie Krieger's show called Healthy Appetite  I saw how she makes them. I printed the recipe from food network and tried. It is very successful:)  Jeremy loved it. I only changed the tahini sauce... I put yogurt instead of water.

Ingredients

Falafel:

• 1 (15-ounce) can chickpeas, preferably low-sodium, drained and rinsed
• 1/4 cup minced onion
• 2 cloves garlic, minced
• 2 teaspoons ground cumin
• 1/2 teaspoon ground coriander
• 1/2 teaspoon salt
• 1/4 cup cilantro leaves
• 1/4 cup parsley leaves
• 2 tablespoons olive oil

Tahini Sauce:

• 1/2 cup pure tahini paste (sesame paste) (available at Middle Eastern stores)
• 3 tablespoons lemon juice
• 1 cup yogurt
• Red pepper flakes

Salad:

• 1 cup chopped romaine lettuce
• 2 (4-ounce) tomatoes, seeded and chopped (about 1 cup)
• 1/2 medium cucumber, seeded, peeled and chopped (about 1 cup)
• 4 whole-wheat pita pocket breads, sliced open

 

Directions

Combine tahini, lemon juice and yogurt and stir to incorporate. Reserve.

Preheat oven to 425 degrees F. Combine all felafel ingredients except 1 tablespoon olive oil in the bowl of a food processor. Process for 10 seconds. Stop motor and scrape down sides of bowl, then pulse for another 10 seconds, until all ingredients are well incorporated but mixture is still slightly coarse and grainy. Form mixture into 16 falafel balls and brush with remaining tablespoon olive oil. Bake on a cookie sheet for 20 minutes, flip falafel balls and bake an additional 20 minutes, until falafel balls are crisp and browned.


To serve, place salad on a plate with a few falafel balls and drizzle with tahini sauce. Or you can serve as a sandwich in whole wheat pita bread.