AN EASY MIDDLE EASTERN RECIPE

I have an obsession with foodgawker. Admitting you a have a problem- That is the first step to recovery... except I don't want to recover. Foodgawker is awesome. Checking foodgawker is part of my daily schedule, especially it's "healthy" tag section. I rarely ever make the recipes I see on there, but they provide wonderful inspiration!

And yesterday I was inspired, by this. Falafel from Honey What's Cooking.

Then I realized that falafel sounded familiar so I did some more searching and realized that they happened to be on my "to bake list" from Chef Katelyn.

I didn't use either recipe persay, but gathered my inspiration from those two blogs as well as a cookbook entitled: Secrets of Healthy Middle Eastern Cooking (by Sanaa Abourezk).

Falafel is made with tons of oil, but this recipe is oil free and baked in the oven!

Baked Falafel

Servings: 6       Serving size: 5 patties       Calories: 86       Fat: 1g       Carbs: 17g 
Fiber: 3g       Sugar: 1g       Protein: 5g       Sodium: 139 mg

Ingredients:

• 1 can low sodium chickpeas, washed and drained
• 1/2 large vidalia onion (about 1/3 cup)
• 2 Tbsp egg beaters (or one egg white)
• 1/4 cup flour
• 1 tsp low sodium baking powder
• 1 Tbsp dried parsley
• 1 Tbsp dried cilantro
• 1/2 tsp garlic powder
• 1/2 tsp onion powder
• dash of cumin
• dash of paprika
• 1/8 tsp pepper
• salt if desired

Directions:

1. Preheat oven to 400 degrees.
2. Cut the onion into large pieces and chop in a food processor. 
3. Add half of chickpeas and the egg beaters. Process until smooth. Then add the rest of the chickpeas and puree.
4. Prepare a baking sheet with nonstick cooking spray. 
5. Measure out the dry ingredients from the flour to the pepper and combine. Add salt to taste if desired.
6. Scoop out heaping teaspoonfuls of the chickpea mixture and form into balls (30 small or 20 medium-sized). Spread out evenly on the baking sheet and flatten out with fingers or spoon.
7. Bake for 15 minutes. Flip onto other side and bake for another 5 to 10 minutes or until done.

Serving suggestions:

Chef Katelyn suggests serving it with ketchup like vegan chicken nuggets.

Secrets of Healthy Middle Eastern Cuisine and Honey What's Cooking suggest serving it in a pita bread with sliced tomatoes and hummus/tahini sauce.

This is how I served MINE:

Chopped Falafel patty and tomato puree in a whole wheat pita bread from Trader Joes.

Then I stored the remaining falafel in a plastic baggy to keep in the fridge:


_______________________________________________________________________________

Question #1: How would you serve falafel? I don't really eat ketchup anymore because it is so high in sodium and added sugars, but I usually used no-salt added tomato puree in place of it. Here the falafel takes on a veggie burger type of use. Maybe next I will make larger patties to put in between slices of bread. Thoughts?

Question #2: What healthy holiday recipes are you making for Christmas? I have a batch of low fat sugar cookie dough in the refrigerator ready to roll out and bake tomorrow. My plans also include healthifying Mexican Wedding Cookies, Gingerbread cookies and chocolate chip cookies