Overworked and underpaid. That sums up my feelings on life at the moment. I’ve been working myself ragged lately, neglecting my friends and spending far too much of the day on my computer.
Want proof? Friday night, I stayed in and stayed up late finishing up work for my real job. I finally passed out in my queen-sized bed with my dog, two plates, and a fork. Saturday, I took an embarrassing number of photos of my breakfast and checked blog stats a couple too many times. That night, I cranked up some tunes and cleaned up the disaster zone otherwise known as my apartment in between sips of cheap champagne. My dark chocolate consumption is at an all-time high (it’s ok), and the question I keep asking myself is this: how many lunges does a quasi-fit, 20-something female need to do, per week, to counteract computer bum?
…I can do nine lunges across the length of my apartment, so please round your answer down to the nearest multiple of nine.
The upside to all of this business is that I’m really proud of the magazine I’m designing and I have some exciting new contributions and publicity lined up for this little bloggidy-blog of mine. I can’t wait to show you all what I’ve been working on. The downside is that I’ve spent almost all day, every day, staring at this screen with my pup-a-lup by my side. Perhaps the biggest negative here is that I am losing sense of time and place and making up words. Beep beep beep, boop boop boop, beep beep beep.
So, this recipe. I am awfully pleased with how this recipe turned out. The first rendition was a composition of two cookbooks’ recipes, one of which continues to produce sub-par recipes that never make it to this blog (I’m officially done with it) and the other is one that never lets me down. At first, baked falafel burgers sounded positively brilliant, but while the outsides were crispy, the dry insides required a lot of smacking to get down. Those leftovers are in my freezer and I assure you I will finish them, but they aren’t anything I’d serve to guests.
My second try was much closer to the latter cookbook
I thought about serving these falafels in a pita, and then I thought about serving them with a salad, and I ultimately decided to take apart the pita sandwich and adjust the proportions. More lettuce and veggies, less pita. I also put a Greek spin on my latest obsession, creamy tahini dressing, by adding dill and parsley and blending it all together in my food processor.
Speaking of food processors, I am so glad that my grandmother gave me her food processor because it made this whole meal come together quickly and painlessly. I don’t push kitchen tools that I don’t think are the greatest, but I truly don’t think a kitchen is complete without a food processor
- 3 to 4 tablespoons olive oil
- 1 cup dried chickpeas, rinsed, picked over and soaked for at least one hour and up to overnight
- 1/3 cup chopped red onion (about 1/4th of a medium red onion, chopped)
- 1/2 cup fresh parsley leaves
- 1/2 cup fresh cilantro leaves
- 3 garlic cloves, minced
- 1/4 teaspoon ground cumin
- 1/8 teaspoon ground cinnamon
- 1 teaspoon ground sea salt or kosher salt
- 1/2 teaspoon freshly ground black pepper
- With an oven rack in the middle position, preheat oven to 375 degrees Fahrenheit. Coat a large cast iron skillet with 1 to 2 tablespoons olive oil (use more olive oil for more of a fried effect. I couldn’t fit all of the falafel into my 12-inch skillet so I used my 8-inch skillet as well, into which I poured in 1 teaspoon of olive oil).
- In a food processor, combine the soaked and drained chickpeas, red onion, parsley, cilantro, 2 tablespoons olive oil, garlic, cumin, cinnamon, salt and pepper. Process until smooth, about 1 minute.
- Using your hands, scoop out about 2 tablespoons of the mixture at a time. Shape the falafel into small patties, about 2 inches wide and 1/2 inch thick. Place each falafel on your oiled skillet or pan.
- Bake for 13 minutes, then remove the falafel from the oven and carefully flip each one. Return the pans to the oven for another 13 to 15 minutes, until the falafels are lightly browned on both sides.
- Adapted from The America’s Test Kitchen Healthy Family Cookbook
- If you do not have a cast iron skillet, coat a large rimmed baking sheet with up to 1/4 cup olive oil.
- Do not substitute canned chickpeas for dried chickpeas here! I made that mistake once and ended up with sad falafel pancakes.
- Although I haven’t tried it, the original recipe notes that the uncooked falafel patties can be refrigerated on a parchment-lined baking sheet, wrapped tightly in plastic wrap, for up to 2 hours before baking.
- I’ve found that falafel freezes well, too. It might be a little less crisp after defrosting but it is still very good!
Creamy Tahini and Dill Dressing
Adapted from Good Things Grow, similar to my creamy tahini and miso dressing.
Ingredients:
- 1/4 cup tahini
- Zest and juice of 1 small lemon
- 1 tablespoon white miso
- 2 garlic cloves, pressed
- 2 tablespoons fresh dill, chopped
- 1 tablespoon fresh parsley, chopped
- pinch of cayenne
- 1/3 cup water
Instructions: In a small food processor, combine all of the ingredients and blend well. You can also whisk the ingredients together by hand in a small bowl, just note that you’ll need to chop the fresh herbs and zest more finely than you would if you were using a food processor.
Falafel Salad
Ingredients:
- Spring mix
- Cherry tomatoes, sliced
- Cucumber, thinly sliced
- Kalamata olives, sliced
- Red onion, thinly sliced
- Feta cheese, crumbled
- Whole wheat pita bread, warmed and torn into bite-sized pieces
- Baked falafel
- Creamy tahini and dill dressing
Instructions: In a salad bowl, combine all of most of the ingredients to your desired proportions. Enjoy!
93 Comments
I doubled the recipe, added nutritional yeast and found that I liked the batter as a raw spread. I’m going to blanch some kale leaves and wrap them up inside with nutritional yeast salad dressing from the Hollyhock cook book and eat them with tomatoes from the garden.
Great idea, Ofelia! I was surprised that I liked the raw batter since it uses soaked (instead of fully cooked) chickpeas. I wonder if it would be easier to digest with cooked chickpeas?
I found your blog by searching for “baked falafel” and I’m glad I did. I just made this and it was awesome, the other recipes look great as well. Thanks!
Thanks for commenting, Alice! I’m glad you enjoy the falafel and please let me know if you try any of the others!
dried chickpeas+cast iron+baked=exactly what i was looking for. thank google.
i must be demented because i only looked up this recipe as something to do on a sunday, not because i necessarily need or want food.
sans food processor (i agree with your statement that it is a very useful appliance but there is no chance of that kind of available real estate in this kitchen) i will be using a chef’s knife and/or my molchete to grind up the chickpeas but again, i was just looking for something to do.
i initially came across your blog looking for whole wheat muffins- i made your recipe for whole wheat blueberry muffins w/yogurt and it was AMAZING (i made several more batches this past weekend). this was the second one of your recipes i have made and you are 2 for 2! this was a perfect healthy dinner for my family! thanks!
Hooray! I’m so glad to hear that you’re enjoying my recipes, Marisa. Thank you for commenting to let me know!
Thanks for the recipe. I tried it out tonight and it came out great. Awesome tips.
So glad to hear it! Thanks, Josephine.
I can’t wait to make this whole recipe for a girls night I’m hosting soon! I don’t know if this is somewhere in the post but I couldn’t find it, can you tell me how many falafel patties this makes? I just want to make sure I make enough for 8 girls to enjoy!
I’m so sorry for the delayed response, Michelle. If I’m counting correctly, I think the recipe yields 13 to 14 little patties, so you’d probably want to double it at least.
I’ve mentioned this recipe in a recent blog post that I did. Go check it out at: http://dontboilmybooks.weebly.com/1/post/2012/10/oven-baked-falafal.html
I loved the idea of these and they tasted great but I found it SUPER hard to get the mixture blended up. I tried my sister-in-law’s Vitamix which is like an industrial food processor and we still had to add extra oil and give the machine a rest when it was overheating. Anyone have any ideas on how to make this part easier next time?
Hey Shawna, I’m sorry you’re having trouble blending up the falafel mixture. You are soaking the chickpeas first, right? I know older beans can take longer to soak up water and cook. I didn’t have a hard time blending them up in my hand-me-down food processor, so I’m not sure what to suggest. I’m sorry!
AWESOME tahini dressing!!! I just wanted to drink it. Great recipe. Next time I will soak the chick peas overnight for easier blending…but I could only wait 1.5 hours because I just wanted homemade falafels NOW lol. mmmm…soo good. I love you Kate.
Why thank you, Danielle. I love this dressing, too—it’s been too long since I whipped some up!
Awesome! I tries this for dinner today. Everybody liked at home.
So glad to hear that you enjoyed the falafel, Sudha. Thank you for commenting to let me know!
Thanks Kate,
I have never attempted baked Falafel before,and this was so easy and delicious. Just what I was looking for. So happy to find your site as I am in desperate need of some culinary inspiration!!
Thanks, Angela! I’m glad the baked falafel turned out well for you. I much prefer baking falafel to frying them at home—I’d probably catch my kitchen on fire! Please let me know how my other recipes turn out for you.
Love love love this recipe!! Tried other baked falafel recipes before but had not that were this good! I think it’s the cinnamon which seems to make them seem a little bit indulgent!
Awesome recipe! Thanks for sharing!
Thanks, Mark! I’m so glad you loved this recipe. It’s about time I made some more falafel myself!
I made the mistake of boiling the hell out of my chick peas and was terrified they would come out disgusting. They were pretty mushy, but I was able to neutralize it by adding breadcrumbs. I would def recommend the stated directions , but if you screw up, you can fix it with breadcrumbs. I also recommend more cilantro but that’s just my preference. Taste wise these came out great! Texture – my fault, but still delicious with pita!
Thanks for your comment, Janelle. I’m glad you managed to fix the recipe after the boiling fiasco.
What if the grocery store I shop at only has canned garbanzos & no dry? Is there anything I can do/add to the mixture to compensate for only having canned?
I’m sorry, Ashlyn, I’m really not sure how to compensate for the difference. I can usually find dried chickpeas in the dried goods section (by the rice) at grocery stores or in the bulk sections at health food stores, if that helps.