RECIPE: Yummiest Air-Fryer Falafel with Two Sauces
Hello dear ones!!
Since I am committed to healthy eating for myself and my family, I finally bought an air fryer. I had been thinking about it for a while, even bought one online about a year ago, and sent it back immediately. It was way too cumbersome with too many parts.
This one that I bought now is perfect for us! I’ve used it every day since I bought it and have been delighted with the results…and so has my family. My son’s chicken wings were the first trial, and they were seriously delicious!
I have been making plant-based foods and everything is turning out perfectly, quickly, and oil-free!! Here’s the latest and I would say the best, so far!!
I adore falafel, but in restaurants it is deep fried and that’s not on our healthy menu. So when I found this recipe for Air Fryer Falafel I had to try it. One of the things that is so easy about it is that you only need to soak…not cook…the dried chick peas, aka garbanzos beans.
You will need a food processor for this recipe. I’m not sure a blender would do a good job…but hey! feel free to try and let us know here on the blog.
The two sauces are slurpingly delicious!! Tahini Sauce and Tzatziki. My husband went nuts for them.
I served the Falafel with our favorite pita bread, Joseph’s Flax Oat Bran & Whole Wheat Pita bread. We like these because they are thin, very light and very versatile. We even make mini-pizzas with them in the toaster oven. My husband’s specialty!
With baby mixed greens tucked into the pita and the falafel on top, generously sauced all nestled scrumptiously in the pita bread, we were in HEAVEN!!
Heads up! Be sure to have a lot of napkins on hand. These can get messy!! ?
I hope you enjoy these as much as we did!
I love you….
And as always, I hope you SPARKLE!
Jan xo
AIR FRYER FALAFEL
INGREDIENTS
1 ½ cups dry garbanzo beans
½ cup chopped fresh parsley
½ cup chopped fresh cilantro
½ cup chopped white onion
7 cloves garlic
2 Tbsp. flour (your choice)
½ tsp. sea salt
1 Tbsp. ground cumin
⅛ tsp. ground cardamom
1 tsp. ground coriander
⅛ tsp. cayenne pepper
DIRECTIONS
Option 1. Overnight soak: Place dried garbanzo beans in a large bowl and cover with 1 inch of water. Let sit, uncovered, for 20-24 hours. Drain thoroughly.
Option 2.Quick soak: Rinse garbanzo beans in a strainer and add to a large pot. Cover with 2 inches of water and bring to a boil. Let boil for 1 minute, cover pot and remove from heat. Let stand for 1 hour. Drain thoroughly.
In the bowl of a food processor, add parsley, cilantro, onion and garlic. Mix until well combined.
Add soaked garbanzo beans, flour, salt, cumin, cardamom, coriander and cayenne to food processor. Pulse until ingredients form a rough, coarse meal. Scrape down sides of food processor occasionally.
Place mixture into a bowl, cover and refrigerate for 1-2 hours to allow flavors to come together.
Once cooled, remove from refrigerator and form into 1½-inch balls, then flatten balls slightly to form patties.
NOTE 1: If mixture is too wet to form, add more flour until your patties stay firmly together.
NOTE 2: I didn’t have cardamom in my spice rack and it was $10 for a small bottle at the store. I didn’t buy it. Believe me, if you don’t have it on hand, these didn’t suffer for lack of cardamom!
Preheat air fryer to 400°F. Lightly spray fryer basket with oil.
Place falafel into basket, being careful not to overcrowd. Cook for 10 minutes, turning halfway through at the 5 minute mark. Repeat with remaining falafel.
NOTE: I have the Cuisinart Air Fryer Toaster Oven and I LOVE it! Best price I found was at Costco.
NOTE 3: Conventional Oven Directions
Preheat oven to 375°F and lightly grease a baking sheet with oil. Place falafel patties on greased baking sheet and brush the tops with olive oil. Bake for 15 minutes, flip over and bake for an additional 10 minutes, or until golden brown.
From www.festfoods.com
TAHINI SAUCE
INGREDIENTS
4 medium-to-large cloves garlic, pressed or minced
¼ cup lemon juice
½ cup tahini
½ teaspoon fine sea salt
Pinch of ground cumin
6 tablespoons ice water, more as needed
INSTRUCTIONS
In a medium bowl, combine the garlic and lemon juice. Let the mixture rest for 10 minutes, to give the garlic time to infuse the lemon juice with flavor.
Pour the mixture through a fine-mesh sieve into another medium bowl. Press the garlic solids with a spatula to extract as much liquid as possible. Discard the garlic.
Add the tahini, salt and cumin to the bowl. Whisk until the mixture is thoroughly blended.
Add water 2 tablespoons at a time, whisking after each addition until smooth. (It may seize up, don’t worry.) After about 6 tablespoons, you will have a perfectly creamy and smooth, light-colored tahini sauce.
If desired, thin with additional water for a more drizzly sauce. Adjust if necessary—if you’d like more tang, add more lemon, or for more overall flavor, add another pinch of salt. Your tahini sauce is ready to serve!
**SHORTCUT OPTION: Simply skip the garlic altogether and stir the lemon juice in with the other ingredients in step 3. You’ll end up with a great, basic, tangy tahini sauce this way.
TZATZIKI
2 cups Greek yogurt, your choice dairy or plant-based
1 cup seedless cucumber, diced
2 T fresh lemon juice
2 garlic cloves, minced
2 T fresh parsley & cilantro, minced
Combine all ingredients well and let rest for flavors to meld
Please, Please, Please!! When you make these come back here and let us know how you liked them! Thanks!!
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