This spinach falafel is a delicious take on a high-protein vegan staple. Eat it on its own (with the tahini dressing of course) or put them in pita. These are great for getting extra greens in. It's also easy to bring spinach falafel with you for lunch at school or work! I have been making a conscious effort to concentrate on creating interesting recipes from the easy and cheap local ingredients available. Thus, I've been going back to the vegan basics of beans, lentils, and veggies. I think it's very important that vegan food should be accessible to everyone, not just the privileged. So here is my recipe for homemade spinach falafel, using ingredients that are usually available and not too expensive.
Spinach Falafel With Tahini Dressing [Vegan]
Serves
20 falafels
Ingredients
Spinach Falafel:
- 2 1/2 cups cooked chickpeas
- 1 small onion, chopped
- 1 garlic clove
- 1 cup spinach, packed
- 1 1/2 tsp dried parsley
- 1/2 tsp cumin
- 1/2 tsp ground coriander
- 1/2 tsp salt
- 1/4 cup plus 2 Tbsp plain flour
- 1/2 tsp baking powder
- 1/2 tsp baking soda
- 2 Tbsp breadcrumbs
- Pitas
Tahini:
- 1/4 cup tahini
- 1/2 cup water
- 1 Tbsp fresh lemon juice
- 1/4 tsp pink Himalayan salt
Preparation
For the Falafel:
- Place the chickpeas, onion, garlic, spinach, and parsley in a food processor and pulse until pasty and combined (or use a stick blender if you don’t have a food processor like me)
- Mix the cumin, coriander, salt, flour, baking powder and soda in a large bowl then add the mushed up chickpea and spinach mixture. Mix well with a wooden spoon, making sure there are no dry patches left
- Stir in the breadcrumbs. If the mixture seems to dry add up to 2 more tablespoons of breadcrumbs and mix well. Use the falafel mixture immediately.
- To make the falafel, heat 3 inches of oil in a pan. Take a walnut-sized lump of the falafel mixture, and using two spoons shape into balls and gently drop into the hot oil. Cook each falafel for about 5 minutes until browned. Keep going until all the falafel mixture is used up
- Enjoy inside a salad-filled pita bread topped with tahini dressing.
For the Tahini Dressing:
- Blend everything together until smooth and creamy
Notes
For gluten free falafel just replace flour and bread crumbs with gluten free versions
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Chickpea
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Spinach
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Veggie Meatballs
Is there a way to cook the falafels without oil? Can they be baked? Or made into patties like a veggie burger? This recipe sounds yummy!