Baked Falafel Patty

This past summer my husband spent a month in Washington state. Left to his own newly vegan devices (less than month), he subsisted on the same few meals over and over. One of them being falafel from the food court next door. He was going there on a pretty regular basis until the owner thanked him for his continual business, and then he got embarrassed and cut it down to only a few times a week.

While there are plenty of places to buy falafel around here, it is such a easy (and healthier!) thing to make at home that I have taken to making him a big batch and freezing it. Well, now I just refrigerate it because he goes through it so quickly there's no reason to freeze.

Yesterday we both had falafel for dinner, and there is just something so satisfying about those chickpea patties.

Our recipes involves a few additions and then we pair it with a silken tofu tahini sauce.

Baked Falafel

3 cloves garlic

2 Tbsp dried cilantro

2 Tbsp dried mint

2 cups chickpeas

1/2 cup rolled oats

2 Tbsp wheat gluten flour

3 Tbsp lemon juice

1 tsp baking powder

1 tsp cumin

1/2 tsp salt

pepper to taste

water (optional)

*This recipe doubles...or triples (which I did last night) very well*

Preheat oven to 400.

Mix garlic, cilantro, mint, chickpeas, gluten flour, and oats in a food processor until chopped and blended.

Sprinkle baking powder, cumin, salt, and black pepper over the mixture.

I like my falafel mix to be almost paste-like, so at this point I will add about 2 Tbsp of water.

Form the falafel mixture into patties (you could go for more traditional balls, but it will affect your cooking time), and place on a greased baking sheet.

Cook 10 minutes, remove and flip, and cook another 10 minutes until golden brown.

Now, my husband is also a big fan of hummus, so that invariably goes into his pita, but I prefer the taste of tahini with my falafel, rather than overload the chickpeas with more chickpeas (although I guess some would propose that impossible!).

Silken Tofu Tahini Sauce

1/2 cup silken tofu

3 Tbsp tahini

1 clove garlic

3 tsp lemon juice

1 tsp sugar

water to texture

salt and pepper to taste

Add everything into a small food processor or blender, and blend together. Add water to achieve the consistency you like. Ours was fairly thick, I added about 2 Tbsp of water.

In addition to health-i-fying the falafel by baking rather than frying, I had a falafel salad instead of a pita. As I've said before, I'm not a big sandwich person.

Go enjoy some falafel. Its good for you, its got protein and fiber, and..umm....its delicious!! Any other falafel lovers out there? From what I've seen, no one rivals my husband!