Falafel Patties with Cucumber Sauce

 

My friends and I get together for dinner every month or so.  We like trying different restaurants and this month we decided to go Greek!  I'm not overly familiar with Greek food so I was game.  My first thought was falafel. I love falafel and figured I'd be ordering it off the menu.  As I was perusing the online menu, I discovered no falafel to be found at all.  I did some research and found that falafel isn't Greek at all. It's actually middle eastern food.  Who knew?  Clearly not me.

 

I did still find the Greek experience to be quite tasty and fun.  However, my craving for falafel hadn't been met.  We then went to a restaurant that had Gyros and I ordered the falafel pita.  It was very good but I ended up eating the entire pita bread.  I try to avoid eating bread as it doesn't agree with me.   

 

 

I knew I had to make my own. I had made it several times before but just never got around to posting it.  So I gathered all my ingredients and made falafel.  My mouth was watering already.  I was almost done with the falafel part when I stopped to make the cucumber yogurt sauce. Much to my dismay, I found that my cucumbers were slimy and not good.  Ugh, what is falafel without the cucumber sauce!  I was without a vehicle to buy cucumbers so I put the falafel in the refrigerator for the next night.  Sigh. My falafel would have to wait.

The next day I got some cukes and made my dressing. I finally had falafel, it was good and totally worth the wait.  I ate mine on a salad with lots of cucumber sauce.  My brother ate his on a tortilla.  Yes, I know that might be a conflict of food interest but I didn't buy pitas and he we eat everything on tortillas. Don't judge. :-) 

Falafel Patties with Cucumber Yogurt Sauce Recipe

2 (15 oz.) cans chickpeas, drained and rinsed
1 onion, chopped
1/2 cup parsley
4 cloves of garlic, chopped
2 eggs
1 tbsp. cumin
2 tsp. coriander
2 tsp. salt
1/4 tsp. pepper
couple of pinches of cayenne pepper
2 tsp. lemon juice
2 tsp. baking powder
2 tbsp. olive oil
2 cups bread crumbs, I used gluten free
oil or cooking spray for frying

Cucumber sauce
1 cup plain yogurt
1/2 cucumber, peeled and finely chopped
1/2 tsp. dill weed (or to taste)
Salt and pepper to taste
1 tbsp. mayonnaise

In a large bowl, mash chickpeas until thick and pasty.  Don't use the food processor, the texture will be too thin.  In a blender or food processor, process onion, parsley and garlic until smooth.  Stir into mashed chickpeas.

In a small bowl, combine egg, cumin, coriander, salt, pepper, cayenne, lemon juice and baking powder.  Stir into chickpea mixture with the olive oil.  Add the breadcrumbs until mixture is not sticky but will hold together, add more or less as needed. Form small balls and then flatten into patties. 

Heat oil or cooking spray in a large pan.  Fry patties until brown on both sides. You can also bake these in the oven at 425 for about 30 minutes, flipping half way.

In a small bowl, combine yogurt, cucumber, dill, salt, pepper and mayo.  Chill for at least 30 minutes.



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