Falafel with Tahini Sauce and Cucumber & Mint Dip

Falafel are easy to make, but there are traps and pitfalls along the way! Make perfect falafel with this recipe, together with Tahini Sauce and a Cucumber & Yoghurt dip. Do you know the answer to the mystery????

Nutrition Facts

Servings: 15

Amount Per Serving % Daily Value*

Calories 77 3%

Calories from Fat 23

Total Fat 2.6g 4%

Saturated Fat 0.3g 1%

Unsaturated Fat 2.0g

Trans Fat 0.0g

Total Carbohydrate 10.8g 3%

Dietary Fibre 3.1g 12%

Sugars 2.0g

Protein 3.3g 6%

Cholesterol 0.0mgs 0%

* Percent Daily Values are based on a 2,000 calorie diet. Your daily values may be higher or lower depending on your calorie needs.

Ingredients

250 g (8 oz) dried chickpeas, soaked for 24 hours and drained
1 small onion, chopped
2 garlic cloves, chopped
2 tsp coriander powder
2 tsp cumin powder
1 tsp salt
½ tsp baking soda
½ cup chopped coriander
Oil for frying

For the Cucumber & Mint Dip

250 g (8 oz) of thick yoghurt (e.g. Greek yoghurt)
½ a cucumber
1 garlic clove
2 tbsp chopped mint
Pepper

For the Tahini Sauce

6 tbsp tahini paste
Juice of a lemon
1 clove garlic
½ tsp salt

Instructions

Place the chickpeas in a food processor and process for about 1 minute. Remove and place in a large bowl.
Process the onion and garlic.
Mix all the falafel ingredients together in a bowl. Press firmly into golf-ball sized balls.
Deep fry the falafel for about 3 minutes until they are golden brown and crispy.
Prepare the Cucumber & Mint dip: Crush the garlic clove into a large bowl. Add in the yoghurt and mix well.
Peel the cucumber, cut in half lengthways, scoop out the seeds with a teaspoon, and grate the remaining flesh. Add this into the yoghurt together with the mint. Season with black pepper and mix well.
Prepare the Tahini Sauce: Crush the garlic clove into a bowl. Add in the salt, tahini paste and the lemon juice and beat to a creamy sauce.

Titli’s Tips

Nutritional information is given for the falafel only and not the accompanying dips.

Take my advice: Never, never, NEVER use canned chickpeas to make falafel. The way the chickpeas are cooked means that they tend to have a high moisture content which will cause your falafel to disintegrate when you try to fry them. You have been warned…

Other falafel variations are:

Use dry broad beans (fava beans) or a 50:50 broad bean:chickpea mix (Egypt).
Add a couple of teaspoons of parsley into the mix (Palestine, Egypt).
Add a chopped leek into the mixture (Egypt).
Use black-eyed peas instead of chickpeas and serve with red chili sauce (Yemen, apparently!).

Finally, it is possible to bake the falafel although the taste and texture will be different.