Syrian Falafel Sandwich

You think I came up with this falafel recipe on my own?? Nope! It's all thanks to growing up with a Syrian mama who cooks incredible Middle Eastern cuisine.

I've watched her cook since I was only 10 years old and always aspired to be as talented of a chef as she is. She taught me how to make falafel so it's my turn to teach YOU how to make an authentic Syrian Falafel Sandwich.

Don't let the instructions overwhelm you -once you get the hang of it, it’s truly a very do-able process. This isn't a meal you're going to whip up in an hour, but it can be prepped overnight and you can feed it to your family or have people over for an authentic Middle Eastern dinner night!

I want to mention that if you are gluten free, it is completely normal to create a falafel salad instead. You can just grab a bowl, add the toppings into the salad, top with 3-5 pieces of falafel, then pour on the tahini dressing. I don't want anyone feeling left out. So, to all of my falafel lovers, let's get to the recipe!

Yields: 3

Portion: 1 falafel wrap

Prep time: Overnight

Total time: day of: 4 hours

This recipe is dairy free, gluten free, and vegan.

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Ingredients:

Falafel:

2 cans of chickpeas OR 3 3/4 cups of fresh chickpeas (which is preferable)

½ can of dry fava beans

1 cup of finely chopped fresh parsley

5 garlic cloves

¼ cup of finely chopped fresh cilantro

Salt

1 TSP of baking soda

Falafel spice mix (you can find this at an Arabic store, but if not you can skip this step)

Toppings:

1 bunch of lettuce

3 slices of pickled beet

1 green onion, chopped in quarters

1 cucumber, finely diced

1 tomato, finely diced

1 radish, finely diced

Fresh, finely chopped parsley to garnish

1 large pita bread

Tahini Sauce:

½ cup of tahini

Squeeze of lemon

Salt

Water

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Instructions:

1. First, soak the chickpeas and fava beans together for 24 hours in cold water.

2. Next, use a food processor to grind the chickpeas and fava beans. Repeat that step but now add the garlic cloves, cilantro, parsley, and salt (to your liking).

3. Add ½ TBSP of baking soda to let the falafel rise. Let the falafel blend sit for a couple of hours and then it will be ready for cooking.

4. Now, grab the falafel blend and start shaping them into the size of golf balls and press down lightly until they are semi-flat.

5. You can choose to bake them in the oven or fry them in canola oil. I fried them this time. You can also choose to air fry them!

6. Preheat the oven to 400 and place your falafel balls onto a baking pan for 20 minutes and coat them with olive oil spray before you put them in.

7. While you’re waiting for the falafel to bake, prepare the veggies you'd like to have in your pita.

8. Let's make the tahini dressing: ½ cup of tahini, a squeeze of lemon, salt to your liking, and add water until you have a creamier/thinner consistency.

9. Let's layer: grab your pita bread, and start layering in the middle as so - falafel, lettuce, tomato, radish, green onion, pickled beets, parsley, tahini dressing, and salt to taste. Wrap it up like a tortilla. Enjoy!

I hope you love this recipe as much as I did, so if you do, please leave me a comment and/or give this recipe a rating! I always read through my suggestions and comments, so please let me know your thoughts. If you have any questions you can feel free to DM me here or through Instagram. Speaking of Instagram - please tag me in all of your creations! I love seeing how the recipes come out and seeing how talented you all are. Sending my love.

xoxo,

Jasmin D the RD