Preheat the oven to 350, and then bust out:
- 1 can garbanzo beans (aka chickpeas), rinsed and drained
- 1 small onion diced into teeny bits
- 2 cloves garlic, diced into teeny bits
- 1 tablespoon chopped cilantro
- 1 tablespoon chopped parsley
- 1/2 to 1 teaspoon cumin (mm smokey)
- 1/2 to 1 teaspoon ground coriander (I only had whole coriander, so I just smashed it with a can to mush it into teenier pieces)
- 1 teaspoon red chili flakes
- salt, to taste (depends how salty your chickpeas are)
- 1 tablespoon wheat flour
- 1 egg*
Steve wanted to have texture in his falafel, so we decided to skip the food processor, skip the hand blender, and revert to our caveman methods. Steve just mashed them with a cutting board, or something (I was off chopping veggies). Perhaps Steve was trying to make up for not going to the rec center. So, use whichever method appeals to you. If you want to flex your muscles, use Steve's method. If you have no muscles but hope to have them some day, use Steve's method. If you don't want to act like a Neanderthal, get some type of machine to crush your chickpeas.
Then, mix all the ingredients listed above together! Mix mix mix! I mixed with my hands. I wanted to connect with my food, become one with it. Besides, you need to use your hands to form the mixture into balls. Put them on a lightly oiled tray and bake your falafel balls for 20 minutes. Halfway through the bake time, gently turn the balls so they cook more evenly. Alternatively, you can cook your falafel the traditional way, which is frying it. Frying will make the outside more crispy, and keeps the balls from crumbling, but of course frying also makes the falafel less healthy. (For the record, we baked them to please Steve. I'm all for fat!)
While the falafels bake, round up:
- 1 juicy tomato cut into cubes
- 1/2 cucumber chopped into delicious cubes (try to make them the same size as the tomato)
- 4 whole wheat half pitas (so that means 2 round things or 4 semi-circles) (I like Kangaroo because there is no weird stuff in it)
- Perhaps some shredded lettuce
- Perhaps some red onion slices (none for me, thanks)
- A few heaping tablespoons of tzatziki sauce (it's a cucumber-yogurt sauce that you can buy or make. I bet you could make it out of soy yogurt)
When the falafel balls emerge from the oven, stuff the goodies (falafel balls, vegetables, sauce) in the pita pocket. Then, feast! Show no restraint. Take no prisoners.
NOTE: This recipe serves two. Maybe if you are not very hungry you could ration it out to last longer, but I don't think I could do that. If you have more than two people (or if you want leftovers), I'd highly recommend doubling the recipe.
OTHER NOTE: Our falafel balls were a bit crumbly because we didn't include an egg. I think that an egg would substantially help keep the ball together.