Sunday, April 11, 2010

Falafel and Tzatziki in a Pita

I still have some chickpeas in my fridge from when I made that big batch of dried beans. They came in handy for my Roasted Red Pepper Hummus, and tonight I turned them into falafel - which is just ground up chickpeas with some spices and lemon juice, formed into patties, and fried or baked.



The falafel patties are super mega ultra tasty, and I put them in a whole wheat pita with a bunch of fresh veggies such as spinach, cucumber, red pepper, red onion, and cherry tomatoes.


The sauce that goes with falafel is called tzatziki - simply a mixture of greek yogurt, garlic, cucumber, lemon zest and juice, and salt. Very light and healthy yet creamy enough to taste really indulgent.


Falafel
2 cups rinsed chickpeas (aka garbanzo beans)
2 garlic cloves, grated on microplane
1 handful parsley
1 tsp ground cumin
1 tsp salt
freshly cracked black pepper
a few drops of hot sauce
lemon juice - a few teaspoons at a time

Pulse all ingredients in a food processor and keep adding more lemon juice until the mixture makes the right patty-making consistency.

Place patties on a baking sheet brushed with olive oil. Brush tops of patties with more olive oil. Bake for 20 minutes at 400 degrees, flipping after 10 minutes.

Tzatziki Sauce
1 cup plain greek yogurt
zest of 1 lemon
1 Tbsp lemon juice
1/4 cup seedless cucumber, grated on box grater
1 tsp salt
1 clove garlic, grated on microplane or pushed through garlic press
some chopped flat leaf parsley

Mix all together and refrigerate at least 30 minutes or until ready to use.


1 comment:

  1. Now I know what I'm making for dinner this week! Yum!!

    ReplyDelete