This green falafel recipe is easy to make and can be made ahead of time for lunches, dinners, or summer picnics. The nice thing is that these green falafels are baked instead of deep-fried, which makes for a lighter, healthier meal, perfect for those hot summer days when you don’t want to be deep-frying. For the green falafel ingredients, fresh flat-leaf parsley was used to give the falafels their vibrant green color inside and to add flavor to the falafels. You can use whatever fresh herbs you have on hand, including cilantro, mint, and/or dill.
Dried chickpeas are the primary ingredient in green falafels, replacing canned chickpeas, which helps to give the green falafels a better texture while retaining their starch to bind them together. You’ll need to remember to soak the chickpeas overnight, or at least 6 to 8 hours before preparing. The baked falafels can be stored in the fridge for a few days, and can be wrapped in purple cabbage, served with tahini and some salsa or tomatoes, served in a salad with some sliced purple cabbage and arugula drizzled with olive oil, lemon, and tahini, or eaten on their own with the tahini sauce.
Green Falafels
Makes 16 falafels
1 cup flat leaf parsley
1 cup dried chick peas, soak for 8 hours or overnight
2 cloves garlic finely chopped
1 small red onion
3 tablespoons olive oil
1 tablespoon buckwheat flour
1 teaspoon baking powder
1/4 teaspoon salt
1 teaspoon cumin
In a food processor, pulse the onion, then add fresh flat-leaf parsley and pulse for another 30 seconds. Rinse chickpeas, then add them to a food processor with the rest of the ingredients and mix until the falafel dough has the consistency of couscous. You may need to use a spatula to scrape down the sides and bottom to ensure thorough mixing. Try to keep the texture of the falafel dough a little rough. Makes 16 round falafels, each 2 tablespoons. Place on a baking sheet with parchment paper and bake for about 20 minutes at 375°F/200°C, turning halfway through until evenly browned. You can also cook in an air fryer at 400 degrees F for 15 minutes or until evenly browned, turning halfway through.
Tahini Sauce
1/2 cup tahini
1 clove garlic finely chopped
juice of 1 lemon
1/2 cup water plus 1 tablespoon
1/4 teaspoon salt
Fresh Tomato Salsa
1 cup multi colored grape tomatoes cut in half, then pulsed in food processor
1/4 cup fresh cilantro
1 clove of garlic
1/2 red onion
1 tablespoon lime juice
1 tablespoon lemon juice
3 tablespoons olive oil
1/2 green chile, finely diced
salt and pepper
Pulse garlic, and red onion in food processor, followed by fresh cilantro till finely chopped, add rest of ingredients then pulse till desired consistency. Season with salt and pepper, add additional lemon/lime juice if needed.
Assembly
Wrap in purple cabbage or fresh lettuce. Add salsa, and drizzle with tahini sauce. The green falafels can also be added to your favorite greens with some sliced purple cabbage, drizzled with olive oil, lemon, and tahini sauce. Bring along some green falafels on a summer picnic with tahini sauce to drizzle or to use as a dip.
