This weeks recipe was chosen by Elina of Healthy and Sane. Check out her blog but don’t go there hungry.
This recipe was made in stages. Ted and I had a busy day so I had given up hope of making these sandwiches. As it turned out, the recipe lent itself to multi stage preparation.
It was Sunday and we were heading out to visit family but Ted was going on his bike and said “give me an hour and a half head start”. That worked out great. I made the tahini sauce, brought out the dreaded processing machine and gave the Felafel ingredients a whirl. Forming the felafel wasn’t fun because it was a soft, mushy mixture. Still, I made the balls up quickly and put them in the fridge. When we got home from our visit with family, the felafel were ready for the oven and a simple salad plate was put together. Really easy.
I have trouble saying “Felafel”. It seems there should be an extra “L” in there or something?
I didn’t change any ingredient in this recipe. I simply changed the presentation from chopped tomatoes and cucumbers to sliced. I added a little mint to the plate. Reduced the serving size to 1/2 a pita, not a whole one.
The Tahini Sauce: *Should have used a little water. It was too pasty. 1/2 cup tahini paste blended with 3 TBS lemon juice and add 3 to 4 TBS water (more if necessary).
The salad plate: Romaine lettuce, plum tomato slices, and cucumbers.
The pita: whole wheat
The felafel: In a food processor, mix 15 oz cooked chickpeas, 1/4 cup minced onion, 2 cloves garlic, 2 tsp ground cumin, 1/2 tsp ground coriander, 1/2 tsp salt, 1/4 cup each cilantro and parsley, 1 TBS olive oil.
Preheat oven to 425 F. Form above mix into balls. Brush with remaining TBS oil and bake 20 minutes per side.
Assembly:
Elina, it was a good pick. Quite different from what we’re used to. Unfortunately, I messed up the tahini sauce. It would have been better saucier. The felafel themselves could have used more oil and were crumbly as leftovers. Ellie didn’t do her best on this one even though the sandwiches had terrific flavor.
Ted insists he never had felafel as a kid. I don’t believe him. He’s Lebanese for pete’s sake!
…….. By the way, who’s “Pete”?
Joanne
You are so right about Elina’s blog – don’t go there hungry!! 🙂
I love falafel – mine always come out dry, too. I guess that’s probably because we try to cut down on the oil, huh?? Lol.
Probably due to reduced oil but with this one, I did follow the recipe so Ellie must be anti oil as well.
I’d love to taste these!
The flavor is great, the dryness is not.
I love falafel. Yours look fantastic!!
Thanks Cherine
This was my first time trying falafel, and it turned out to be a huge hit here. I also made this recipe in a couple different steps. The unbaked falafel balls sat in my fridge for a few hours before I was ready to throw them in the oven. You could probably form them and freeze them, too. Anyway, I do agree that they were crumbly when reheated, but I still thought they were very tasty!
I think you’re right. These would freeze well.
I could not bring myself to make this for some reason unbeknownst to even me. But yours as always looks really good. I’m sure I would love it. I think I am in a slump this week for some reason!
Well, you did make some awesome looking peanut butter cookies. I would have substituted as well. 🙂
Well, I haven’t gotten to it yet, but I will. Yours looks great. Hoping to give this a spin 2mrw. Thanks for the tip about it being hard to ball up.
I can’t believe he’s Lebanese and has never had falafel!
And now I’m hungry 😀
I am a big fan of falafal, and I’m still looking for the perfect recipe. I hate frying them, but they just taste so good! I have tried my hand at baking them a few times to limited success. Perhaps I’ll give your recipe a go! Thank you for sharing, and I’m sure you’ll have better success with your sauce next time. Practice makes perfect!
Your falafels and all the veggie pics look delicious! I reduced my baking time to 10 minutes per side so my falafel balls did not seem dried out. I love your veggie slices, what a great idea!
I like falafel a lot but have never made them at home, maybe I should try too! 🙂 I think your sandwich would be something my boyfriend would eat too, even though it’s vegetarian 😀
Looks fantastic, Joann! I agree that forming the balls or patties was the worst part. My fingers were covered in chickpea mixture by the end! The flavor was good, but I wasn’t crazy about the texture either. I guess this is a recipe that is better off not being “healthified” 🙂
On a baked felafel hunt. I love the top pic. The soft focus makes it look like the felafel of my dreams! Ha ha.