Who doesn’t love a good Falafel with a yummy sauce to go along.  This Pistachio Falafel is baked crispy on the outside, but hearty and tasty on the inside.  Made with roasted salted GetCrackin Wonderful Pistachios No Shells instead of flour and fresh cilantro instead of parsley.  They are gluten free, soy free, dairy free and vegan.

When it comes to chickpeas, unless I’m making my own chickpea flour I only used canned chickpeas.  When making falafel I like to mash them up by hand.  A food processor is great, however I find is easier to mash them up quickly with a fork.  It takes two minutes and a just a little elbow grease.  Much less time then in takes to drag out the equipment and then all cleaning afterwards.

 

Then there’s the pistachios.  In this case I like to use my Magic Bullet with the flat attachment to create a pistachio flour, but a food processor works just as well.  I always like to leave a few nutty chunks which adds a little texture to the bite.

 

Pistachio Falafel

Ingredients:

1 15.5 oz can chickpeas

3/4 cup roasted & salted @getcrackin Wonderful Pistachios No Shells

2 tablespoons fresh squeezed lemon juice

2 tablespoons extra virgin olive oil

2 tablespoons red onion, finely chopped

1/2 cup fresh cilantro, finely chopped

1 tsp. salt

3/4 tsp. ground black pepper

Preheat oven to 425 F. Drain and rinse the chickpeas. In a bowl add the chickpeas and mash with fork into a chunky paste. Add the pistachios to a food processor or bullet with flat blade and pulse into a powder leaving a few pistachios chunks. Add the pistachio flour into the bowl with the mashed chickpeas along with the remaining ingredients and mash together well. Spray a baking sheet generously with olive oil spray. Roll the pistachio chickpea mixture with clean hands into 1 1/2 inch balls and place onto baking sheet at least 1 inch apart. Spray tops of falafel balls with olive oil spray. Bake in 425 F oven for 30 minutes. Makes 8 falafel balls. Double up recipe for 16.

Green Goddess Tahini Avocado Dip

1/4 cup scallions, chopped

1/2 cup cilantro, chopped

1 clove garlic, chopped

1 heaping tablespoon tahini

1/2 an avocado

1 tablespoon lemon juice

1 tablespoon extra virgin olive oil

2-3 tablespoons water

salt and pepper to taste

Add all ingredients except water, salt and pepper to a bullet or food processor and pulse until thick and creamy.  Add a little water at a time and pulse until desired texture. Season with salt and pepper. Serve with Pistachio Falafel and veggies.