I have been making this meal for many years. It first started when Kodi told me he has never had vegetarian food. I am by no means a vegetarian, but I think it is very important for people to have a few vegetarian meals a week. One, because veggies are good for you! Two, it is not only good for you, but good for the environment and three, vegetarian food is actually tasty and gives you reasons to try something new, like a new protein and new flavours.
I have made this recipe many different ways, as a pita wrap, or in a bowl with some rice and veg, or even by itself with some tzatziki. Over the years, the recipe has evolved based on what ever I had available to me, but I always start with a few things: Chickpeas, something green, garlic lots of garlic, cumin and flour. But this is my go to because it is easy to make, it uses my favourite kitchen appliance, the food processor and it makes enough for leftovers. Here is how I do it and some pictures from through out the years!
Falafel:
1 can of Chickpeas
3 cloves of garlic
1 handful of Spinach or Cilantro (what ever you have in the fridge)
1- teaspoon of cumin
1-teaspoon paprika
Salt and pepper
Olive Oil
3-tablespoon of flour
1-teaspoon baking powder
Pre heat the oven to 350 and line a baking tray with parchment. Throw everything in the food processor and blitz until it is all mixed and not completely smooth but a little chunky. You don’t want to liquefy it. Using a spoon or ice cream scoop, scoop cookie size balls onto the lined baking tray. Put in the oven and bake until browed.
Lemon rice:
1 clove of garlic
1 tablespoon of butter
1 ½ cup of chicken broth
1 cup of rice
lemon zest
Heat a pan over medium heat, melt the butter and cook the garlic. Once the garlic is browed, put the uncooked rice in the pan and coat with the buttery goodness. Add in the chicken broth. Cover and let simmer until the rice is cooked. Once the rice is cooked zest the lemon and mix it in.
Tzatziki:
1 cup of full fat greek yogurt
sea salt
half a cucumber grated
2 cloves of garlic
lemon
Grate the cucumber onto a paper towel, sprinkle with salt and squish all the liquid you can out of the cucumber. In bowl, mix the cucumber, yogurt, salt, minced garlic and juice of a lemon. Set a side. The longer you let it sit, I find the garlicky goodness gets stronger.
Make your favourite Greek salad! Or just a mix of tomatoes, cucumber and red onion.
My current favourite thing to do is make a falafel “Buddha bowl”. I put the rice, and make a big Greek salad, minus the dressing and put it all in a bowl and use the tzatziki as the dressing and crisp up some pitas for the side or crumbled on top. In the end it is whatever way you like it. This is one recipe Kodi always asks me to make, and I have no problems making it because I love it too.
Enjoy!
