Patricia Heaton's Falafel Patties Recipe

When I was at Ohio State, we’d pour into the late-night falafel joint after all the bars had closed. I adore all that Middle Eastern food: falafel, hummus, baba ganoush.

These dippers are slightly flattened falafels, with their own cool dipping sauce.

Serves 4, as an appetizer

Ingredients

Falafel Patties

• 1 small yellow onion
• 1 garlic clove
• 1 (19-ounce) can chickpeas, drained and rinsed
• Handful of fresh flat-leaf parsley
• 1/2 tsp. sea salt
• Freshly ground black pepper
• 1 tsp. ground cumin
• 1/2 tsp. ground coriander
• 3 Tbsp. all-purpose flour
• Canola or grapeseed oil

Dipping Sauce

• 1/4 cup tahini
• 1/4 cup plain Greek yogurt
• Juice of 1 lemon
• 1 tsp. chopped fresh flat-leaf parsley leaves
• 1/2 tsp. pure maple syrup
• Sea salt and freshly ground black pepper

Directions

Make the falafel: Place the onion and garlic in the bowl of a food processor and pulse to roughly chop them. Add the chickpeas, parsley, salt, pepper, cumin, coriander, and flour. Pulse a few times, until just combined—the mixture should be a little chunky. Transfer to a bowl, cover, and chill in the fridge at least 4 hours and up to 2 days.

When ready to cook the falafel, shape the chilled mixture into 20 patties. They should be the size of sliders, or little hockey pucks, rather than balls.

Line a dish with paper towels. Heat 1/4 inch of oil in a medium skillet over medium heat. Working in batches, fry the patties until deeply golden underneath, 2 to 3 minutes. Turn and cook on other side until deeply golden, 2 to 3 minutes more. Transfer to the paper towel–lined dish to drain.

Meanwhile, make the dipping sauce: Combine the tahini, yogurt, lemon juice, parsley, and syrup in a small bowl. Whisk until smooth and well blended, adding a few drops of water to thin out to the desired consistency. Season with salt and pepper.

Serve the hot falafel with the dipping sauce.

From Patricia Heaton’s Food for Family and Friends, by Patricia Heaton. Copyright © 2018 by Patricia Heaton. Reprinted by permission of William Morrow, an imprint of HarperCollins Publishers.