Meat Free Monday:Falafels with Cucumber Sauce

Falafels are round balls or patties made from chickpeas (aka: garbanzo beans).  Often  they are served in a pita along with other vegetables hot sauce or tahini (sesame seed based) sauce.

My family prefers to eat them dip in cucumber sauce. Enjoy.

Falafels with Cucumber Sauce

Ingredients:

Falafels

• 1 (15 ounce) can garbanzo beans drained
• 1 onion, chopped
• 1/2 cup fresh parsley
• 2 cloves garlic, chopped
• 1 egg
• 2 teaspoons ground cumin
• 1 teaspoon ground coriander
• 1 teaspoon salt
• 1 dash pepper
• 1 pinch cayenne pepper
• 1 teaspoon lemon juice
• 1 teaspoon baking powder
• 1 tablespoon olive oil
• 1 cup dry bread crumbs
• oil (for frying)

Cucumber Sauce

• 1 (6 ounce) container plain yogurt
• 1/2 cucumber – peeled, seeded, and finely chopped
• 1 teaspoon dried dill weed
• salt and pepper to taste
• 1 tablespoon mayonnaise

Directions:

1. In a large bowl mash garbanzo beans until thick and pasty; (don’t use a blender, as the consistency will be too thin). In a blender, process onion, parsley and garlic until smooth. Stir into large bowl of mashed garbanzo beans.
2. In a small bowl combine egg, cumin, coriander, salt, pepper, cayenne, lemon juice and baking powder. Stir into garbanzo bean mixture along with olive oil. Slowly add bread crumbs until mixture is not sticky but will hold together; add more or less bread crumbs, as needed. Form 8 balls or flatten into patties.
3. Heat 1 inch of oil in a large skillet over medium-high heat. Fry patties in hot oil until brown on both sides.
4. In a small bowl combine yogurt, cucumber, dill, salt, pepper and mayonnaise. Chill for at least 30 minutes.