Vegan Falafel Gyro with Tahini Sauce

by Roger Scott Dotoños & Woz Delgado Dotoños (Hungry Hungry Veganos)
(Burdett, New York, USA)

"Fabulous Falafel Gyro with Titillating Tahini Sauce"

Falafel is one of our most favorite foods EVER. Especially for rahzh (he could probably eat it all day, every day). Sad thing is we both just discovered falafel a couple of years back (or less). Neither of us ever tried it before we went Vegan. And it is sad to think we missed out on years of fabulous falafel gyros :(

Luckily Woz discovered this food of the Middle Eastern gods and introduced it to rahzh's unsuspecting and unknowing mouth during one of his early visits.

These gyros are nommers ( We swear that it's a word. Go and look it up if you don't believe us ;) and only take 5-10 minutes to prepare and about 20 minutes to cook. So in 30 minutes or less you will have magically delicious falafel err... wait a second this is a Middle Eastern food not Irish.

As always we will continue to personalize the recipe as we continue to make it (after a certain point we usually start eye balling many of the ingredients). As for now this is the recipe that we followed.

To make the falafel you will need:

*15-19 oz can chickpeas/garbanzo beans, drained (you could also soak your own)
*1/2 medium white onion, finely chopped
*4 cloves garlic, finely chopped
*2 tablespoon parsley, chopped
*2-3 tablespoons all purpose flour
*2 teaspoon cumin
*3/4 teaspoon baking powder ( 1/2tsp + 1/4tsp or 3x 1/4 tsp)
*salt & pepper
*2-3 tablespoons olive oil (you could try another type if you wish)

Directions:

*Start by preheating the oven to 350 and drizzling the oil evenly in a shallow baking pan (we used a small glass baking pan/casserole dish).


*Next, mash the chickpeas/garbanzo beans. You may use a mortar and pestle or a food processor but we have neither. So we used a spoon, potato masher, and our blender. This way requires more work and depending on your blender it might mean doing it in a couple of batches to make sure the chunks of chickpeas/garbanzo beans are gone.

*Add onions and garlic and blend some more.

*Mix in the rest of the ingredients and you should get a thick paste-like consistency. Spoon out the mixture and roll (using your hands) into walnut size balls and place in preheated baking dish. Flatten the falafel a little. Bake for 15-20 minutes, flip the falafel halfway through baking.

To make the tahini sauce you will need:

*1/2 cup tahini (sesame seed paste)
*4 gloves garlic, minced
*3/4 teaspoon salt ( 1/2tsp + 1/4tsp or 3x 1/4 tsp)
*2 1/2 tablespoon olive oil
*1/4 cup lemon juice
*2 teaspoon parsley, finely chopped
*2 teaspoon cilantro, finely chopped
*1/4 teaspoon ground cumin
*1/2 tablespoon warm water

Directions:

*You may use food processor or mortar and pestle to combine garlic and tahini but we just used our blender. Then add salt, parsley, cilantro, and cumin to the mixture.

*Next, add olive oil, lemon juice, and water. If the mixture is too thick slowly add more warm water until you get the thickness that you like.

*Now all you have to do is take your favorite pita bread and top it with your favorite toppings (greens/tomatoes/onions/etc) add the falafel and tahini sauce. AND don't forget to add some hot sauce. That puts it over the top. We love Cholula hot sauce (especially the garlic version). And voila!

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