Falafels and Tzatziki

Falafels

This is exactly the recipe I followed to make these.  I thought maybe they were just a little bit too salty, so next time I'll cut back to 1/2 teaspoon of salt.  Falafels are usually fried, but after looking at several recipes and reading the reviews, it sounded like baking them would work fine.  So I baked them and thought they turned out great, but you can definitely fry them in oil.

Ingredients:

1 (15 oz) can chickpeas (garbanzo beans), drained

1 small to medium size onion, chopped

½ cup fresh parsley

3 cloves garlic, chopped

1 egg

2 tsp ground cumin

1 tsp ground coriander

1 tsp salt

1 dash ground black pepper

1/8 tsp ground red pepper

1 tsp lemon juice

1 tsp baking soda

1 tbsp olive oil

1 cup dry breadcrumbs

Instructions:

1)  Preheat oven to 425 degrees.  In a large bowl mash chickpeas until thick and pasty (don’t use a blender, this will make the consistency too thin).  In a blender, process onion, parsley and garlic until smooth.  Stir into mashed chickpeas.

2)  In a small bowl combine egg, cumin, coriander, salt, black & red pepper, lemon juice and baking soda.  Stir into chickpea mixture, along with olive oil.  Slowly add ½ cup of the breadcrumbs.

3)  Form balls and roll each in the remaining breadcrumbs (you can flatten them if you prefer a patty to a ball), then place on a lightly greased baking sheet.  Bake for 20 minutes, then turn them over and bake for about 5 more minutes.

Tzatziki (yogurt and cucumber dip)

I read a few tzatziki recipes that used regular (not Greek) yogurt, which required a few hours (or overnight) straining through cheesecloth.  I also read a number of reviews of these recipes that recommended using Greek yogurt because it is already strained.  So I used the Greek yogurt, but I think next time I’ll try the regular yogurt and straining method just to see how it turns out.**

Ingredients:

1 cucumber, peeled, seeded & grated

1 1/3 cups plain non-fat Greek yogurt

2 cloves garlic, crushed

dash dried crushed mint

1 tbsp chopped fresh parsley

1 tbsp fresh lemon juice

2 tsp dried dill weed

salt & pepper to taste

Instructions:

1)  Place cucumber between two towels and press to get most of the moisture out  (I used a cutting board to press).

2)  Mix all the ingredients together.

3)  Refrigerate for a couple hours before serving.

** I have to confess that I took a bit of a shortcut when I made this tzatziki.  I just sliced up the cucumber (did not peel or seed it), pressed the slices in a towel and threw everything in a blender.  It tasted great, but was runnier than tzatziki would usually be.  So if you’re being lazy like me, and don’t mind a soupier dip, that works fine.  :)

enjoy!

 ~ j