When I am craving a good falafel pita but not in the mood of frying, I bake cooked (or canned) chickpeas with tons of cilantro and parsley and onion – same ingredients you make falafel patties with. We stuff them into pitas with cornichons (or any pickles), salads, lemony tahini sauce and some hot sauce like harissa. And believe it or not, it tastes like a proper falafel.
The pitas I made came out too thin to stuff, so we poured some tahini sauce over, glued the chickpeas on and served the salad and harissa on the side.
Baked Chickpeas Falafel
A modern version of falafel. Less messy, easier to make and healthier. Serve with cucumber pickles, lemony tahini and hot sauce such as schoog (yemenite hot sauce) or harissa.
Servings: 4 people
Cost: 5
Ingredients
- 2 garlic cloves
- Handful cilantro
- Handful parsley
- 2 1 15oz. can garbanzo beans - rinsed and drained
- ½ teaspoon cumin
- ¼ cup avocado or olive oil
- salt
- 1 small red onion
- 2 tomatoes
Lemony tahini
- ¼ cup tahini butter
- 1 - 2 tablespoon lemon juice
Instructions
- Preheat the oven to 360°F/190°C.
- Chop the garlic, cilantro and parsley and put in a medium bowl. Add the chickpeas, cumin, oil and salt, and toss. Put the mixture on a baking tray, lined with baking paper, and bake for 15 minutes. The chickpeas will harden a bit, it's okay. Don't rinse the bowl yet.
- Meanwhile make the tahini sauce: put the tahini and lemon juice in a cereal bowl and whisk gently. It would harden. Add gradually ¼ cup water, constantly whisking until the texture is creamy and smooth*. Dice the red onion small.
- Put the cooked chickpeas back in the bowl. Add the red onion. Grate the tomato straight in the bowl and drizzle 2 tablespoons of the tahini sauce. Toss and taste, add salt if necessary. Serve in pitas or bread with pickles, tahini sauce and harissa.
