Baked Falafels

Name: Baked Falafels
Ingredients: Baked Falafels; 2 cups canned garbanzo beans; 1/2 onion; 1/4 cup toasted walnuts; 1 cup parsley; 3 cloves of garlic; 1 teaspoon crushed red pepper; 1 teaspoon ground cumin; 1 teaspoon salt (add more or less per your taste); 1 teaspoon baking soda; 1 teaspoon lemon juice; 1 tablespoon extra virgin olive oil; 5 pita pockets - cut in half; 1 large or 2 small tomatoes - sliced; 1 cucumber - sliced; Tahini-Yogurt Sauce; 1 cup plain non-fat greek yogurt; 2 tablespoons tahini (sesame paste); 1 tablespoon tbsp Zahtar or 1 tbsp ground cumin; 1/4 teaspoon salt; A few turns of black pepper or 1 tsp crushed red pepper

21 ingredients

7 steps

Ingredients

Baked Falafels
2 cups canned garbanzo beans
1/2 onion
1/4 cup toasted walnuts
1 cup parsley
3 cloves of garlic
1 teaspoon crushed red pepper
1 teaspoon ground cumin
1 teaspoon salt (add more or less per your taste)
1 teaspoon baking soda
1 teaspoon lemon juice
1 tablespoon extra virgin olive oil
5 pita pockets - cut in half
1 large or 2 small tomatoes - sliced
1 cucumber - sliced
Tahini-Yogurt Sauce
1 cup plain non-fat greek yogurt
2 tablespoons tahini (sesame paste)
1 tablespoon tbsp Zahtar or 1 tbsp ground cumin
1/4 teaspoon salt
A few turns of black pepper or 1 tsp crushed red pepper

Directions

1

Pre-heat the oven to 375 F. Line a baking sheet with parchment paper or aluminum foil.
2

In a food processor, pulse the ingredients in three steps in the following order: first -> toasted walnuts, second -> parsley + onion + garlic, third -> garbanzo beans + crushed red pepper + salt + baking soda + lemon juice + extra virgin olive oil. Pulse until everything is well incorporated but make sure you don't over do it or the mixture will become too mushy and difficult to work with. [Side note: I made the mistake of putting everything in the food processor at once - mainly for photographing purposes. It was a huge mistake. The ingredients didn't blend too well. I had to pick out the walnuts, chunky onion and garlic pieces and blend them separately. It just ended up taking more time than anticipated.]
3

Make 2 inch balls using your hands or use a small ice cream scoop and scoop the mixture onto a parchment or aluminum foil lined baking sheet.
4

Bake for 20 minutes, flipping them over halfway through.
5

Put all ingredients in a blender and run the blender until everything is well incorporated. You can choose to whisk all the ingredients by hand if you want.
6

Cover and refrigerate in a glass jar until you're ready to use it.
7

Place sliced tomatoes, cucumbers and two falafel balls in a pita pocket. Drizzle with Tahini-Yogurt sauce [recipe below].