Tuesday's Food: Waffled Falafels

My husband likes falafels; I like using my waffle maker. Since it was Meatless Monday, I decided to give making falafels in my waffle maker a try! One of my favorite creative recipe websites is The Waffleizer: a website that has quite a few different recipes using your waffle maker but not necessarily making waffles. She (he?) didn't have a recipe for falafels, but said she just used a mix from a box. So off to the store I went to find said falafel mix to make a surprise meal for my hubs.

After searching 3 different grocery stores for the waffle mix, I finally decided to just make the falafels from scratch. If you normally make your falafels from scratch, then instead of frying the little balls, just form them into patties, and cook them in your waffle maker instead. If you don't make your falafels from scratch, or have never made falafels, then check out the recipe below....and then check out my review.

Homemade Falafels

What You'll Need:

• 1 can chick peas
• 1/3 cup parsley (I don't like parsley so much, so I did about half parsley and half oregano to make 1/3 cup) 
• OPTIONAL: 1 medium onion, chopped (I did not do this because the hubs doesn't like onions) 
• 2 Tbsp cilantro
• 1 clove garlic, minced
• 1 tsp baking powder
• 1 tsp kosher salt
• 3/4 CUP cumin. (Yes, that says CUP)
• 1 pinch crushed red pepper
• 3 Tbsp water
• Olive oil 

Instructions: 

1. Drain and rinse the chick peas. Dump in a large bowl or blender. Add parsley, onion, cilantro, garlic, baking powder, salt, cumin, and red pepper. Blend until it makes a thick paste. 
2. Add the water and blend well. It will not be smooth, but close to it. 
3. Using two spoons, form into little balls (see pic #1 below). NOTE: after cooking the first round, I ended up combining two balls to make 1 large patty. I would suggest the same if you are going to use the waffle maker. 
4. Add a little olive oil to your waffle maker, place the balls or patties in the maker, and cook until crispy (2-3 minutes). Drain on a paper towel. 
5. Cover the inside of pita bread with humus and add the waffled falafel (and tomatoes and cucumbers if desired). 

REVIEW: 

This went over well with half of us, and not so well with the other half. It was just a bit too spicy for Jed and me. 

As for the experience, we have made falafels before, but from a boxed mix. They turned out great, then. This time, about half of my falafels fell apart in the waffle maker. It honestly could just be the recipe and the type of waffle maker I have (Belgium waffle maker). I ended up making mine with crumbled falafels instead of a the full cooked item. It was still good (just spicy). I will make this again, but with a mix next time just to see if it turns out different. 

If you give this a shot, let me know how it worked for you! 

Pre-cooked falafel balls. Normal size for frying, but I ended up combining two to make one large patty

Final product. We also had about a Tbsp of hummus on the side to dip whatever in. YUM!