Thursday, April 23, 2009

Baked Falafel in Pita with Tzatziki


For dinner tonight, I decided to make falafel. I've had falafel in restaurants, but never made it at home. The main reason is because I don't like frying food. I love taking normally fried foods and finding a way to bake them and get similar results. I used this recipe from FoodNetwork.com I followed the directions up until frying, where I baked it.
I served this with Tzatziki, which I've made in the past and love! This time I used Oikos plain yogurt, which made it thicker and better.

Baked Falafel in Pita with Tzatziki

1 can garbanzo beans, drained and patted dry
1/2 small onion, roughly chopped (about 1/2 cup)
2 cloves garlic
1 teaspoon red pepper flakes
2 teaspoons ground cumin
1 teaspoon baking powder
2 tablespoons all-purpose flour
1 teaspoon kosher salt
1/4 teaspoon freshly ground black pepper
3 tablespoons chopped fresh parsley leaves, about a handful

6 pita breads
Tomato slices
Lettuce leaves
Tzatziki

Combine all falafel ingredients except oil in the bowl of a food processor fitted with a steel blade.
Pulse mixture until coarsely ground.
Transfer to a bowl or container and refrigerate, covered, for several hours.
Preheat the oven to 500 degrees.
Form the falafel mixture into 6 balls.
Place on a foil lined, nonstick sprayed baking sheet.
Bake for 10 minutes, turn, bake for another 5.
Place in a pita and serve.

9 comments:

cookingkatie said...

mmm...reminds me of the fast food we had in Israel

Anonymous said...

This looks great and I love that you baked it instead of frying. I think we may try this for dinner next week. Yum!

Elyse said...

Mmm, I love falafel! And I love that you baked these. How delicious! Great job.

Anonymous said...

Great job.

kitchenbelle said...

Baking it is a great idea! Were you happy with the results?

Debbie said...

These look yummy...never had them before but would love to try them now!

What's Cookin Chicago said...

These look great and I love that you baked the falafel - so much healthier!

Joanne said...

I love falafel also for an every-so-often deep fried treat. There's actually a place in NY that bakes the falafel and they are great also. It's actually the only deep-fried food that I eat. I have been dying to make it at home, thanks for sharing the recipe!

Kelly said...

That looks awesome. I am happy to hear that you enjoyed the sweet potato fries. I will have to make it with your makeover. That sounds so much healthier than the original version.