Homemade Falafel

I've been trying to branch out a little bit lately, and also for some reason I've really hated cooking meat lately (I still LOVE eating it, but I've become tired of preparing it...) Anyway because of those things, falafels seems like a perfect storm of a recipe to try, so I did! And so far, I'm loving it!

Ingredients: 

• 2 c. cooked chickpeas, drained 
• 2 c. roughly chopped white onion 
• 6 garlic cloves 
• 1 c. lightly packed parsley leaves 
• 1 c.lightly packed cilantro leaves 
• 1 tsp. salt ¼ teaspoon chili powder 
• 2 tsp. baking powder 
• 1 c. all-purpose flour 
• canola oil, for sauteing 
• 1/2 c. cucumber, sliced 
• 1/4 c. crumbled feta cheese
• 2 tbsp. greek yogurt, cucumber, dill dip (I prefer this kind) 
• pita bread

How To Cook It: 

• add the onion and garlic cloves to the bowl of a food processor and pulse just until they are finely minced.
• remove the mixture and set it aside
• add the chickpeas, parsley, cilantro, salt, chili powder, and cumin to the bowl of the food processor and pulse until they are roughly blended but not pureed
• return the onion mixture to the food processor, along with the baking powder and just enough flour so that when you pulse the processor, the mixture begins to form a small ball and is not sticky (start by adding ¼ cup of flour, and then another 1/4 then another....)
• transfer the falafel mixture to a bowl, cover it with plastic wrap and refrigerate it for 1 hour
• once the falafel mixture has chilled, use a small ice cream scoop or spoons to form the mixture into balls (roughly 1-2 Tablespoons per ball) (you can also add additional flour at this point, if the mixture is too wet to scoop)
• set a large sauté pan over medium heat and add a liberal amount of canola oil so that the pan is well-coated let the pan pre-heat for 3 minutes then add the falafel one by one, browning them on the first side for 3 minutes, then flipping them once and browning the second side until the mixture is cooked throughout 
• season with salt through out cooking process
• transfer the falafel to a paper towel-lined cooling rack 
• place three or four falafel inside a halved, warmed pita with cucumber, feta, and greek yogurt dip