Baked Moroccan Falafel with Greek Tzatziki
These falafel are the perfect combination of sweet and savoury. Plus, baking them makes them loads healthier than deep frying them. My dad is not a huge fan of falafel, but he said they were the best he had ever tried and even had seconds! So, I can definitely recommend these. I only had 3 and they were definitely filling. A perfect meal to make me feel less guilty about the peach pie I had for dessert! As a plus this meal is completely vegetarian and the falafel are 100% vegan and gluten free.
| Prep Time | Cook Time | Serves |
|---|---|---|
| 30-40 min | 26-30 min | 4-5 |
2 cans or 800g of canned chickpeas
1 small red onion or shallot
1 large handful of parsley
3-4 garlic cloves
1 tbsp of cornflour
1.75 tsp of salt
1/4 tsp of black pepper
2 tsp of cumin
1 tsp of ground coriander
20 dried apricots
1/3 tsp of cardamon
1/3 tsp of cayenne pepper
1/3 tsp of paprika
1/3 tsp of ginger
3 tbsp of olive oil
Tzatziki V
1.5 large cucumbers, deseeded
1-2 garlic cloves
570g or 2 cups of greek yoghurt
white pepper and salt, to taste
Preparation
- Preheat your oven to 375F or 190C / 170C fan.
- Wash thoroughly and remove the skins of the chickpeas. You do not need to remove the skins but it makes the falafel much smoother.
- Add the chickpeas to a large bowl or food processor.
- Combine the chickpeas with all the spices (salt, pepper cumin, coriander, cardamon, cayenne, paprika, ginger) and cornflour.
- Finely chop the parsley, dried apricots and red onion and then also add these to the mixture. Combine.
- Finely add the olive oil and then whiz together in the food processor or using a hand processor.
- The final texture should be like damp sand, easily combined into a ball but not wet.
- Take anywhere between 1-2 tablespoons of falafel mix and roll into a ball.
- Place them on an oven proof pan or skillet. Using a fork press them down to about 2 cm thickness.
- Bake for 26-30 minutes, approximately 13 minutes per side or until lightly browned.
- Once the falafel is in the oven, you can prepare the tzatziki.
- Grate the deseeded cucumber on the medium/large hole-size.
- Then squeeze as much liquid as you can from the cucumber using your hands or a cheese cloth. Add to a medium sized bowl.
- Finely mince the garlic and add to the cucumber. Now combine with the yoghurt.
- Add salt and white pepper to taste.
- Serve the falafel with the tzatziki, pita and some vegetables of your choice.
- Enjoy :)
