Learning cooking recipes from other countries is a very enriching way to learn about traditions, customs, and especially food and culinary techniques typical of those cultures. When it comes to recipes from the Middle East or India, spices and legumes cannot be absent.
This recipe for homemade baked falafel with yogurt sauce is a delight and at home, it is very easily prepared. Falafel is a kind of croquette of chickpeas, spices, and herbs, very aromatic and rich. It is usually served with the yogurt sauce that we are going to prepare but also with tahini (sesame seed paste) or even with the famous Greek tzatziki sauce.
It can be a great appetizer but also a great dinner if you serve it as we have done with pita bread, lettuce, and yogurt sauce. Without a doubt, it is a different and very tasty way of eating legumes and the best of all is that at home we like to prepare them in the oven so that they are lighter but further down in the variations section you will find the instructions to fry them.
If you are interested in this type of cuisine, I highly recommend preparing a delicious doner kebab or a chicken durum kebab with tzatziki sauce at home. Continuing with the oriental menu, complete it with the famous baba ganoush (aubergine cream) recipe that is also usually served with pita bread triangles, and if you love chickpeas, the hummus or chickpea puree cream is another appetizer. To complete this, do not forget to serve as a main dish a delicious couscous with vegetables and chicken or the famous Lebanese salad called tabouleh or tabbouleh, and of course, a dessert to match, full of nuts and honey, like this baklava.
Homemade Baked Falafel Recipe with Yogurt Sauce
Homemade Baked Falafel Recipe with Yogurt Sauce
This recipe for homemade baked falafel with yogurt sauce is a delight and at home, it is very easily prepared. Falafel is a kind of croquette of chickpeas, spices, and herbs, very aromatic and rich. It is usually served with the yogurt sauce that we are going to prepare but also with tahini (sesame seed paste) or even with the famous Greek tzatziki sauce.
- Oven
- Refrigerator
- Mixer
- 250 grams dried chickpeas
- 1 onion
- 1 cloves of garlic
- 2 tablespoons fresh parsley leaves
- 2 tablespoons fresh coriander leaves.
- 1 tablespoon wheat flour
- ½ dessert teaspoon Sweet paprika (or spicy if you prefer).
- ½ dessert teaspoon Ground cumin.
- ½ dessert teaspoon Freshly ground black pepper
- ½ dessert teaspoon Cinnamon powder.
- 2 tablespoons olive oil
- 1 dessert teaspoon salt
For the yogurt sauce:
- 1 1 natural yogurt (125 gr)
- ½ clove of garlic, or if it is tiny, 1 whole clove.
- 1 Juice of 1/2 lemon.
- 5 fresh mint or spearmint leaves.
- 1 Freshly ground black pepper
- 1 tablespoon extra virgin olive oil and salt.
Soak the chickpeas in plenty of water the night before, or at least 12 hours before making the falafel.
To prepare this recipe, a grinder or robot will be the best utensil, since although you can use a hand mixer, the ideal is that the result is chopped and lumpy, but not a perfectly beaten puree.
Put the chickpeas in the blender (we had to do it in two batches) and grind them.
Follow with the rest of the chickpeas and add the onion into pieces and the garlic and crush again.
Now include the parsley and coriander and mash again. You already have all the solid ingredients crushed.
Put all the mixture in a bowl and add the flour, paprika, cumin, pepper, and cinnamon. Also the oil and salt, and stir everything well to make a mixture as homogeneous as possible. Let it sit for at least an hour.
Meanwhile, we are going to prepare the yogurt sauce. In the blender glass, add half of the yogurt and all the other ingredients: garlic, lemon juice, mint or peppermint leaves, pepper, oil, and salt.
Blend everything for just a minute, add the other half of the yogurt and no longer crush it, just mix with a spoon and you are ready. I do this like this because when grinding the yogurt it liquefies a lot and in this way, we can keep the sauce a little dense. You can also crush all the ingredients except that half of the yogurt and the leaves and chop them with the knife and add them later.
Reserve the yogurt sauce in the fridge while you finish making the falafel.
When the falafel dough has settled into balls with your own hands, give them a slightly flattened shape and paint them on both sides with a little olive oil, using a kitchen brush. Go placing them on a baking tray lined with greaseproof paper.
Preheat the oven to 180ºC with heat up and down.
When all the falafel are on the baking tray and it has reached 180ºC, place the tray in the oven at medium height and let them cook for 10 minutes. Take the tray out of the oven, turn them over and cook them again for another 10 minutes. Ideally, they should have browned a little on both sides, so if not, you can bake them for a few more minutes.
Serve and taste:
Freshly made and warm they are delicious, although when they are cold they can also be eaten perfectly. If you have leftovers, you can keep them for 3-4 days in the fridge (the yogurt sauce will also hold you those days and even some more) and to reheat them you can do it in a pan or the microwave. You can also freeze them, and I recommend freezing them when they are already baked and cold.
The yogurt sauce can also be used to dress salads or accompany baked, cooked, or grilled vegetables for example. Serve the falafel as you prefer although with a slice of pita bread, a little lettuce, and yogurt sauce they are real… scandal!
Variants of the recipe for homemade baked falafel with yogurt sauce:
If you prefer to cook the falafel, add a dessert teaspoon of baking powder to the mixture, and after the dough has set and the balls have been created, cook them for a few minutes in plenty of hot oil. Transfer them to a plate with kitchen paper to drain the oil and you’re done!
To give it a different and equally delicious touch, you can add 1/2 red pepper to the mixture, it will be spectacular. And even if it is going beyond the established, put the spices that you like the most since for example, a touch of curry is great and even a little chili if you like spicy.
Advice:
Keep an eye on the falafel in the oven so that they do not brown excessively as they would be a bit dry.
If you liked this recipe especially because it is prepared in the oven, you can also lighten the yogurt sauce using low-fat skimmed yogurt and thus have a very light result, although try not to sweeten it since we need a yogurt that does not have a sweet taste.
You can also download Homemade Baked Falafel Recipe with Yogurt Sauce recipe as a PDF file.
