Falafel with Tahini & Tzatziki Sauces

 

Ingredients:

• 2 cups roughly chopped white onion
• 6 garlic cloves
• 2 cups cooked chickpeas, drained
• 1 cup lightly packed parsley leaves
• 1 cup lightly packed cilantro leaves
• 1 teaspoon salt
• 1/4 teaspoon chili powder
• 2 teaspoons cumin
• 2 teaspoons baking powder
• 1/2 cup all-purpose flour
• Canola oil, for sauteing
• Pita bread, for serving

Tahini Sauce:

• 1 1/4 cups plain yogurt (full fat or non-fat)
• 1/4 cup tahini (sesame paste) 
• 2 Tablespoons fresh lemon juice

Tzatziki Sauce:

• 1 (8 ounce) container plain yogurt
• 1 cucumber, peeled, seeded and diced
• 1 tablespoon olive oil
• 1/2 lemon, juiced
• salt & pepper, to taste 
• 1 Tablespoon fresh dill, chopped
• 1 clove garlic, minced

Directions:

1. Add the onion and garlic to the bowl of a food processor and pulse just until they are finely minced. Remove the mixture and set it aside.
2. Add the chickpeas, parlsey, cilantro, salt, chili powder, and cumin to the bowl of the food processor and pulse until they are roughly blended but not pureed.
3. Return the onion mixture to the food processor, along with the baking powder and just enough flour so that when you pulse the processor, the mixture begins to form a small ball and is not sticky. (Note: Start by adding 1/4 cup of flour, and then the remaining 1/4 cup. You can add more if the mixture is still too wet.)
4. Transfer the falafel mixture to a bowl, cover it with plastic wrap and refrigerate it for 1 hour.
5. While the falafel mixture is chilling, prepare the tahini sauce and tzatziki sauce 
• Tahini Sauce: whisking together the yogurt, tahini and lemon juice. Season it with salt and pepper, cover it and place it in the fridge.
• Tzatziki Sauce: stir together the yogurt, cucumber, olive oil, lemon juice, salt, pepper, dill and garlic until well-combined. Cover it and place in the fridge.
6. Once the falafel mixture has chilled, use a small ice cream scoop or spoon to form the mixture into balls. (Note: you can also add additional flour at this point, if the mixture is too wet to scoop.)
7. Set a large saute pan over medium heat and add a liberal amount of caonla oil so that the pan is well-coated. Let the pan pre-heat for 3 minutes then add the falafel one by one, browning them on the first side for 3 minutes, then flipping them once and browning the second side until the mixture is cooked throughout.
8. Transfer the falafel to a paper towel-lined cooling rack and immediately season them with salt. Repeat this process until you have cooked all of the falafel.
9. Place three or four inside a halved, warmed pita and drizzle with either the prepared tahini or tzatziki sauces.

*Tahini can be found in Asian aisle or next to peanut butter, it's cheaper in the nut butter aisle. It will be labeled as sesame paste or sesame butter.

Recipe for falafel and tahini sauce from justataste.com and Tzaziki sauce recipe from allrecipes.com/