When was the last time you craved street food but didn’t want something that came inside two pieces of bread or a tortilla wrap? Too often? Yeah, me too. Although pita is kinda like bread but these Falafel Pockets are to die for. I had my first falafel in Dubai in 2005 and was kinda taken aback by the PARTY IN MY MOUTH. Mom was really happy because chickpeas (Proteins without meat, ‘cha chang’) and greens! More importantly, it is unusually satisfying to eat something that’s so healthy but tastes so bloody amazing. The beautiful combination of chickpeas flavoured with aromatic spices fried into becoming super crispy, lots of salad greens and herbs, cucumber, tomato and onion rings, drizzled with tzatziki and olive oil. UH.
Falafel is an ancient dish that has been popular in Egypt, then the rest of the Middle East and now almost worldwide. The history of falafel goes back to the days of the pharaohs. The name most likely originates from the Arabic word for spicy, mefelfel.
When I made this at home for the first time I was like how have I not made this before? What took me so long to find out how easy these babies are to make and ahem, eat?! Yeah. You’re going to feel the same when you try ’em. Trust me guys. Read and learn.
Falafel Pockets:
Serves 2| Prep time: 25 min | Cook time: 25 min
Ingredients :
For Falafel:
Chickpeas – 200 gms, washed, soaked overnight and boiled.
Parsley- 1 cup, tightly packed, chopped
Whole wheat flour – 1/2 cup
Mint leaves – 1/2 cup, chopped
Onion – 1 cup, chopped
Cumin and coriander powder – 2 tbsp, each
Red chili or cayenne pepper powder – 2-3 tbsp
Salt and pepper – to taste
Extra Virgin Olive Oil – 2 tbsp
Garlic – 5-6 cloves
Vegetable Oil – For frying
For Pita Pockets:
Pita Bread – 4, cut in the middle
Tzatziki – there’s never too much tzatziki! But – 2 cups.
Tomatoes -2, sliced
Olives – 1 cup
Onion – 1, sliced
Lettuce, or any other salad greens – roughly chopped
Steps:
Mix all the falafel ingredients together and add them to your food processor.
Blitz in with all the spices but make sure you don’t add any water to it. You need a thick mixture so if you need to adjust the consistency you can add lemon juice to it. A lot of places also add baking soda but that’s totally avoidable. Your mixture should look something like 👇.
Roll the mixture into patties and place with enough distance between them so they don’t stick to each other. I’d recommend you to stick them in the fridge for a couple of hours before frying.
Get a hot pan – the trick is to NOT use too much oil because your patty could totally disintegrate. Yeah it happened to me the first time around. You’ll need to fry them about 5 minutes on each side or till they become golden and crispy. If you’re feeling really healthy you can also bake these.
Now, time to assemble your falafel pockets. Cut your pita bread into half and you’ll see it open up like a pocket. Fill it up with your lettuce or salad greens, followed by tomatoes and onions and a drizzle of tzatziki. You then place your falafel in the pocket and drizzle some more tzatziki and olive oil. Top up with olives and herbs and some red chili or cayenne pepper powder for that extra punch.
😋 😋
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