So I was really craving Middle Eastern food and I was sick of hummus, so I searched the web and found this low-fat baked falafel recipe. They taste great and I didn't have to buy any special ingredients (there's no tahini in this recipe). Enjoy!

Ingredients:

2 cans garbanzos
4 cloves garlic, minced
2 tablespoons peanut butter
1 green onion, chopped
1 medium onion, chopped
1 egg
1/4 teaspoon cilantro, chopped
1/4 teaspoon ground cumin
1/4 teaspoon cayenne pepper
1 tablespoon soy sauce
sesame seeds

Directions:

* Preheat oven 400 degrees Fahrenheit.
* Mash garbanzos with a mortar and pestle.
* Add all the ingredients and mix well with a wooden spoon.
* Shape into balls using a dining spoon.
* Roll around on sesame seeds, if you have a lot of it; if you have limited sesame seeds, just sprinkle it on top of the falafel ball.
* Arrange on a baking sheet and put it in the oven until golden brown, approximately 30 minutes. If falafel is covered in sesame seeds, it may take longer to cook all the way to the center of the falafel, maybe 45 minutes.

wow, my mortar and pestle is tiny, I'd never me able to mush them all. Think we can use a blender???

I am totally making this tomorrow or Sunday and some tzatziki to go along with it!

Yeah, I ended up using my food processor, but I'm sure a blender would work, too.

I love falafel. But PB?

Most of my recipes call for PB too as well as tahini.

Wow - I didn't know you could bake falafel. Heaven!

Speaking of falafel, once I bought a container of what was referred to as "falafel spice". It was a large bag and really looks more like a mix, but it isn't dense enough to have anything like ground chickpeas in it. Maybe I will try to incorporate it into this recipe somehow.

Thank you for the recipe!

I was underwhelmed by this recipe. I might try it again but really boost the seasoning. The texture was good and they held together, always a plus with bean burgers.

Ok, note to all of those out there who, like me, need a food processor badly -- this is not ideal for a blender!!! I had to add water to get it to blend (though it was a work-out in and of itself for my arm to try with the mixing stick sans water) and so of course, that changed the texture a bit. So I wound up with more like falafel pancakes than balls and only had to cook them for 15 minutes.

Per Cyn's warning of sorts, I doubled the seasonings, added black pepper and 2 more green onions and also some paprika. They turned out ok, despite the setback.

And of course, if you put tzatziki on anything, of course it tastes good! Of course, I took pictures:





I ate two as a serving, saved 4 and have some of the mix left as well. I hope it will keep for a few days like hummus would. Overall, I'd make it again but I might fool around more with the seasonings (maybe add some coriander and red pepper flakes). Thanks for sharing the recipe!!!

K, I made these today and I thought I was following the recipe but I mostly didn't. Here are my notes:

I used dried, soaked garbanzo beans. I used maybe four cups of drained garbanzos and boiled them for about 45 minutes. They were tough to mash by hand with a potato masher, so I gave them a whir in the food processor with a tablespoon or so of olive oil to help blend.

I realized after I was adding the other ingredients that I was using more garbanzos than two cans worth, so I eyeballed extra quantities of the other ingredients and went for a meatball texture. I omitted other spices and used the falafel spice I mentioned above, and I added dried parsley instead of cilantro (my cilantro had gone bad). I also added a tablespoon or so of pad thai sauce along with the peanut butter. I didn't have a green onion, so I omitted.

By the time I got done balling all of it up, I had 42 falafel balls that were slightly larger than one inch in diameter. I sprinkled sesame seeds on them in the pan, got my hands wet, and rolled all the balls around in the seeds. The water helped the seeds stick.

I didn't realize until after they were in the oven that I'd forgotten the soy sauce. They smelled delicious while they baked, and tasted great. I whipped up an easy tzatziki sauce (yogurt, evoo, garlic, lemon juice, dill, salt, pepper).

Thanks for sharing the recipe, texaslove!

made these today and they were yummy warm over a salad!