Falafel Salad

Having some fun with our new AirFryer, I thought falafels would be a great thing to try. I’ve been wanting to make them again for quite awhile and a nice alternative to chicken or tuna for lunch salads.

I enjoy chickpeas in all their forms – hummus or roasted as a snack (more on that another time) or of course falafels. Fried chickpea balls!

In addition to just tasting good and leaving a feeling of satisfaction, chickpeas are actually good for us too! I love when that happens! They are a great source of plant-based protein and essential vitamins and minerals. As a slow releasing carb, chickpeas are able to give you more sustained energy without spiking blood sugar. High fiber content helps you feel full and reduce cravings and is good for digestion.

Pairing these falafels with a variety of vegetables gives this salad flavors, textures, and colors to delight the senses. Something that even skeptics are likely to enjoy. One thing to consider is that falafels are best fresh, so when preparing for salads, pop them in the microwave for about 10 seconds if possible to make them a little better. This is not required but they will start to get a little hard after about 3 days.

Ingredients:
Falafel
– Dried chickpeas, (2 cups, soaked overnight)
– Fresh parsley leaves (1 cup)
– Garlic (7-8 cloves)
– Salt and pepper, to taste
– Cumin, ground (1 TBSP)
– Coriander, ground (1 TBSP)
– Cayenne, ground (1 tsp)
– Baking powder (1 tsp)

Falafel Salad
– Falafels
– Leaf Lettuce (2 bunches)
– Red cabbage (1/2 medium cabbage)
– Carrots (1 cup, chopped)
– Red pepper (1 pepper, chopped)
– Cucumber (1 cucumber, sliced)
– Kalamata olives

Tahini Dressing
– Garlic, (1-2 cloves)
– Tahini (1/2 cup)
– Freshly squeezed lime juice (2 limes
– Salt, to taste
– Cold water, as needed for consistency
– Parsley, optional (1 cup)
– Mint, optional (1/2 cup)

Kitchen Items You’ll Need:
– Bowl
– Blender
– AirFryer

Cooking Instructions:               
1. Sort and rinse dry chickpeas. Soak in water overnight using enough to cover chickpeas by 1-2 inches.
2. When ready to make falafels, drain chickpeas and blend them, parsley, and garlic until course so there are still small pieces of chickpeas in the mixture.
3. In a large bowl, mix ground chickpeas with seasoning. Cover tightly and refrigerate for 1 hour.
4. Take falafel mixture out of refrigerator and scoop into balls or patties.
5. Place falafels in AirFryer basket and cook at 380 for 15 minutes.

Falafels are best served fresh. If making ahead to eat later, I recommend heating falafels for about 10 seconds or so in the microwave before eating.