QUINOA FALAFELS WITH TAHINI SAUCE
Wednesday, June 30, 2010 at 10:58AM 
It's summer. There was a whirlwind of engagement excitement, a trip to Scotland and now it's July. What the heck. The traffic down the coast is congested, there are ripe nectarines at the market and I can smell that glorious charcoal bbq scent when I take an evening stroll. I like it very much. The season of eating dinner outside, beach days after church and the best fruit, I welcome you.
As much as I love a good meal, I'm more often a grazer. I peek through my fridge a number of times during the day, hoping maybe something new or more exciting will look back at me. There are always string cheeses and carrot sticks; often some flavor of hummus and various dipping agents, but those have been on my snack menu for a good twenty years or so, I need some new goods. The first thing I do when I go to my parents house is take note of what is in their fridge, as you never know when hunger will strike and I may NEED something from there. I am not much of a baker for this very reason, grazing on baked goods is not the greatest habit. If you bake and have self control, cheers to you. I'm better off with these leftover quinoa falafels in the fridge.
QUINOA FALAFELS WITH TAHINI SAUCE / Serves 4
I made my own version, but was influenced by the lovely Nicole at Cooking after Five. I used smoked salt, because I had some on hand and it worked great, but any type of salt is fine. The falafels themselves are very low in fat, so the sauce, or any sauce of choice is necessary. You can use fresh cooked garbanzo beans, or canned if you are short on time.
1/2 Cup Quinoa
1 Cup Chopped Carrot
1/2 Cup Sliced Green Onions (about 3)
3 Tbsp. Chopped Parsley
15 oz. Garbanzo Beans
2 Eggs
2 Tbsp. Fresh Lemon Juice
1 tsp. Cumin
2 tsp. Coriander
2 Tbsp. Toasted Sesame Seeds
2 Cloves Garlic
Salt/Pepper
2 Tbsp. Olive Oil
1 Cup Plain Yogurt
1/4 Cup Tahini
1 Tbsp. Lemon Zest
Fresh Chives to taste
Salt/Pepper
1 English Cucumber, cut in matchsticks
1. In a small saucepan, bring 1 cup water to a boil. Add quinoa, cover, and reduce heat to low. Cook until liquid is absorbed, about 12ish minutes. Set aside to cool for now.
2. In a bowl, whisk together the yogurt, tahini, lemon zest, a pinch of salt and pepper and chives if you have them. Cover and put in the fridge.
3. In a blender or food processor, pulse carrots and parsley. Add green onion, garbanzos,sesame seeds, lemon juice, eggs, garlic clove, coriander and cumin. Season with salt and fresh ground pepper. Pulse until roughly combined, add quinoa, and another few pulses. I prefer it chunky. Taste for seasonings. Allow to set in fridge for an hour. It will be fine resting overnight if you really like to plan ahead.
4. Heat a nonstick pan* over medium high heat with 1 Tbsp. of the oil. Scoop the mixture out in about 2 Tbsp. size portions, roll and flatten into patties. Sear them in the saucepan for about 3 minutes on each side, with a slight press of the spatula between to thin the patty a bit. Use the remaining oil when the pan becomes dry about the third batch.
5. I ate mine at room temperature over some matchstick cucumbers, with a drizzle of the yogurt tahini sauce on top. You could put them in mini pitas and they could be a neat veg appetizer. I love mini things.
* Nonstick will allow you to use less oil to keep them from sticking. You need some oil to create a crust, but you are not 'frying' them.
Reader Comments (97)
I made this for dinner this week and it was fantastic. Thanks for sharing!
those look gorgeous. bookmarked!
Wow! This recipe looks delish, and we can get all these ingredients here! I can't wait to try it out. Love love love your photos too, and the beautiful natural light you seem to have. Generally, just love your blog. Happy week!
Yum! I made these last night - lots of work, but they're very tasty. The one thing I didn't see was where the sesame seeds came in - I assumed you dumped them into the mix? Thanks for the new, healthy recipe!
Mmm, falafel is quite possibly one of my very favorite foods! This looks so beautiful and colorful!
Just had these for dinner. Another home run. Served them over cucumbers as suggested keeping it light and fresh!! So delicious. My meat-eating boyfriend thought so too and munched on a few of the leftover falafels dipped in hummus while we cleaned up. Thanks for the recipe!!
I made these two days ago for me and my husband. We ate them first on French Demi Bread, then on Ciabattan the next day. We SLATHERED on the tahini, that's how great it was. Just wanted to say THANK YOU! I was in a cooking funk, made these and was in heaven. I can't wait to make these again!
These look wonderful and filling! my kind of dish :)
I made this for dinner last night and it was delicious! Even my boyfriend, who grimaces a bit when say I'm making quinoa, loved it. Great for a gluten free meal. I made a simple arugula salad w/ a lemon vinaigrette to go along side it. Yum!
This looks wonderful. I found your site via 101 Cookbooks. Going to try this with my children. Lovely photos - very beautiful. Going to share the link with my friends. Thanks for posting!!!
These sound awesome! I want to make them today. :)
What an original way to use quinoa. I like the addition of chickpeas for some extra protein.
Love this recipe!
I am going to make this ahead tonight and cook it tomorrow. We have never had quinoa so this will be a great introduction.
[...] Little Flower School someday makes a visit to SF. - Summer pizza edition of this joy + ride - Quinoa Falafel @ Sprouted Kitchen. - And lastly – hoping for an English version of [...]
no WAY! I was just thinking about making quinoa falafels. So glad you made them first so I can follow your obviously more delicious recipe than mine would have been.
Yum yum Sara. Yum yum.
[...] Little Flower School someday makes a visit to SF. - Summer pizza edition of this joy + ride - Quinoa Falafel @ Sprouted Kitchen. - And lastly – hoping for an English version of [...]
Looks great but is there an easy way to print your recipes? If so, I haven't found it...
This receipt was wonderful! I made it last night.
Beautiful photos and great post!
These look absolutely gorgeous. Lovely mixture of ingredients and would all go so well with tahini sauce. Great recipe.
[...] night, I made the bottom two photos for dinner, Quinoa Falafels with Tahini Sauce which were so amazingly tasty! And today for lunch, I’m making the third photo from the [...]
[...] Little Flower School someday makes a visit to SF. - Summer pizza edition of this joy + ride - Quinoa Falafel @ Sprouted Kitchen. - And lastly - hoping for an English version of this. Continue reading Sautéed [...]
I'm originally from Los Angeles and now live in Seoul, South Korea. This dish epitomizes what I love and miss so much about SoCal cuisine: freshness, lightness, healthiness, and tastiness. I am enamored with your blog and recipes. Thank you for putting so much care and thought into it.
[...] Little Flower School someday makes a visit to SF. - Summer pizza edition of this joy + ride - Quinoa Falafel @ Sprouted Kitchen. - And lastly – hoping for an English version of [...]
I have had this recipe bookmarked for awhile, and I've finally made it today. Can't wait to dig in! It's chilling in the fridge at the moment. I added sun-dried tomatoes and olives to the falafel (to mimic some delicious falafel I had at a gastro-pub)and I'm going to eat them in flour tortillas. If it tastes as good as it smells, this will definitely be a keeper. Great use of quinoa as well!
[...] recipe is a slight variation of a really wonderful original from one of my favorite food blogs, sprouted kitchen. the first two times i made the falafel, i followed her recipe verbatim–the only reason this [...]
[...] Quinoa Falafel (“ooh look!” and sprouted kitchen) [...]
[...] is the second post of my new recipes. This week I took a recipe from Sprouted Kitchen. I felt it a perfect week to make these as I’ve been craving [...]
Made this a few weeks ago and had enough left over for lunch the next day. INCREDIBLE. Feeling the urge to make it again tonight or tomorrow. Just the right amount of flavor. We added a bit of hummus alongside the tahini sauce as well.
yummy - im making them right now thx for the recipe - can these be baked instead????
Made these for dinner tonight. Yummyyyyyyyyy!!!!!!!
Sounds delish, cannot wait to try!! This is going to sound crazy, but I want to be sure the recommendation is for the 1/2 quinoa is a 1/2C COOKED quinoa.
Thanks,
Lisa
whoops, I see the answer ; )
I just sent this to a friend who is obsessed with quinoa. Now, after reading the recipe (and falling in love with the beautiful pics), I'm going to have to try it myself! Quinoa is a wonderful way to take the falafel concept to a whole new level. Thanks.
SOooooo Healthy!
[...] inspired by: SproutedKitchen [...]
[...] found this recipe for Quinoa Falafels and Tahini Sauce on Sprouted Kitchen. They were pretty awesome, especially with Joy the Baker’s Baked Curry [...]
yummy! falafels are so wonderful, and yogurt sauce just makes it all better.
[...] been eyeing this recipe for a while (by which I mean about 2 days) and decided they were just too cute not to [...]
A co-worker brought quinoa in for the first time ever at a work event. I really enjoyed it and I think I would like these too, but they might be a bit involved for me to make. I might pass on this recipe to her and see if she will try it too! :)
Quinoa is one of my favorites and these falafels look fantastic! I will be making this soon. Thanks for sharing.
Sara-
I just made the falafel "batter" or what-have-you, and it didn't look as chunky as yours above. I think I may have over processed everything. Do you think if I coated everything in a bit of GF flour it would help it fry better? would appreciate your help asap thank you
Shelley
@shelley - yes. I would maybe make an egg dip to help the flour stick, then go with the recipe from there. I haven't personally tried this, but I imagine it'd work! Let me know. Good luck!
I made this today. It didn't turn out very well. it was very wet and didnt hold together after searing. I think the idea would to actually use chickpea flour, which would be better to use a binder.
Thanks so much for your recipe! We are lovers of "all things garlic" at our place. Will try this one out for sure I learned from quinoa.net about rinsing quinoa before cooking. One more suggestion (which has NOTHING to do with your awesome recipe) when you set up your final photo, place the fork on the left and the knife on the right. It's the "proper" way with most of the world:)
Made these yesterday for my lunches throughout the week and they are so good! I followed the recipe for the falafels as written but omitted parsley as I don't care for it. I also added dill rather than chives to my sauce - so delicious and made it a bit like a tzatziki sauce. I served mine over a fresh spinach salad with diced cucumber and a hard boiled egg. Thank you so much for the recipe!