The Best Falafel You've Ever Had

Ever since swooning over a crispy falafel pita in Amsterdam years ago, I've been on a quest to find the best falafel recipe out there.

I feel like I've finally done it, and it's a Katerina-original.

It took a lot of delicious trial and error but hey, someone had to do it.

Through my dream-falafel-seeking journey I've picked up a number of tricks along the way, like how to prevent ugly crying while chopping an onion, and how to make a dollar stretch by getting a few different uses out of the same ingredients.

That's why I'm offering a virtual cooking class where I'll be dishing out these tricks and many other helpful health/cooking tips on Tuesday 4/20 at 5pm MST live on Zoom!

To join us, click here and book your spot.

The ingredients listed below cost just $10 !!! Making this a nutritionally potent and delicious new favorite recipe that will cost you virtually $2.50 per serving.

Serving size: 4 servings

Prep time: 15 minutes | Cook time: 18 minutes | Total time: 32 minutes

INGREDIENTS

Falafel Patties

• 1 cup chopped veggies, such as carrots, cauliflower, broccoli, or a mix

• ¼ cup chopped shallot or yellow onion

• 1 can (16 ounces) chickpeas, drained (save the aquafaba!)

• 1/3 cup all-purpose flour, use gluten-free if needed

• 2-3 garlic cloves, minced (easiest to buy jar of minced garlic)

• 1 teaspoon lemon zest

• 1 teaspoon ground cumin

• 1 teaspoon ground coriander

• ¼ teaspoon cayenne pepper

• ¾ teaspoon sea salt

• 1/2 cup fresh parsley

• extra virgin olive oil, or avocado oil, for cooking

Simple Greek Tzatziki Sauce

• 1.5 cups plain low-fat Greek yogurt

• 1 clove garlic, minced

• 2 tablespoons freshly squeezed lemon juice

• 2 tablespoons dill

• 1/2 teaspoon kosher salt, or to taste

• 1/4 teaspoon freshly ground black pepper, or to taste

For serving

• Pita bread pockets, warmed

• Hummus

• A few tablespoons of diced tomato, cucumber, and red onion

• Feta cheese, diced (optional)

• Tzatziki sauce above

• Chopped parsley

DIRECTIONS

1. In a large food processor place all the falafel ingredients together: chickpeas, vegetable(s), shallot, garlic, lemon zest, cumin, coriander, cayenne, salt, fresh parsley, and flour. Pulse until well combined but not pureed. Use a spatula to scrape down the sides of the bowl as needed.

2. Heat a sauté pan with 3 tbsp oil over medium heat.

3. Use your hands to form the mixture into 12 to 15 thick patties, about 2 tbs per patty. If they're not holding together, give the mixture a few more pulses in the food processor.

4. Cook patties for ~8 minutes on each side.

5. Add all ingredients for tzatziki sauce into a bowl and combine

6. Warm pita pockets in toaster oven or microwave. Smear hummus in your warmed pita then add diced vegetables. Add 3 falafel patties, and add the tzatziki sauce.

If you make this recipe, please snap a photo and hashtag it #katalystliving.

Hope to see you live as we make these babies together next week!

<3 Kat