I love a good Israeli meal with falafels, hummus, tabbouleh, and a good salad to accompany it all, along with some warm pita bread! One of the best falafel sandwiches that I have ever eaten were in Amsterdam, and Jerusalem. The falafels were crunchy, absolutely authentic and super delicious and the hummus was so flavorful and creamy, I could not get enough! Along with some Turkish coffee this was one delicious meal!
I have made falafels many a times, but never did they turn out this good, as last weekend! I think I finally nailed the recipe! I used fresh chickpeas, soaked them overnight, patted them dry before grinding it in the food processor with a bunch of other ingredients to add flavor to the falafel mixture. DO NOT USE canned chickpeas, cause you will NEVER get the texture of the balls with the crunch that it should have.
I wanted a light meal for lunch, so I made a falafel salad with a lot of rainbow vegetables, like purple cabbage(one of my favorite vegetables), red onions, cucumber slices, radish slices, heirloom cherry tomatoes, and roasted golden beets, along with some feta, cooked quinoa and arugula salad. I made a dressing with Jam Lab’s Apricot and Rosemary Jam, lemon juice, olive oil, s&p. You could even use a lemony-tahini dressing to dress up the beautiful salad. I will provide both the dressing recipes below.
I could eat this salad all day everyday, it has so much color, texture and different tastes, and so healthy and light for you! After all, we should try and eat the rainbow in all our meals! 🙂
If you do make this recipe, please tag #thejamlab on Instagram, and/or put a comment in the comments section below! I would love to hear how you liked the recipe!
XO
Amisha
Ingredients
Falafels:
- 1 cup dried chickpeas, soaked overnight
- 1 teaspoon cumin seeds
- 1 teaspoon coriander powder
- 1 teaspoon black pepper
- 1/3 cup mixture of parsley and cilantro
- 3 tablespoons flour(I used whole wheat flour)
- 3 cloves garlic
- 1 tablespoon black sesame seeds
- ½ cup red onion roughly chopped
- 1 teaspoon baking soda
- Salt to taste
Dressing:
Apricot and Rosemary Jam Dressing:
- 3 tablespoons Jam Lab’s Apricot and Rosemary Jam
- 3 tablespoons lemon juice
- 1/3 cup extra virgin olive oil
- Salt and pepper to taste
Lemon-Tahini Dressing:
- ¼ cup tahini
- 4-5 tablespoons lemon juice
- 1 grated garlic clove
- ½ - 3/4 cup extra virgin olive oil
- Salt and pepper to taste
For the salad(2 servings) :
- 4 cups of arugula salad
- 1 cup cooked quinoa
- ¾ cup finely chopped purple cabbage
- ½ cup finely chopped red onions
- ¾ cup feta cheese
- ½ medium cucumber thinly sliced
- ¾ cup roasted beets (Check method below )
- 2 cups heirloom cherry tomatoes
- ½ cup thinly sliced radishes
- 2 tbsp thyme to decorate the salad
Instructions
For the Falafels:
- In a medium size bowl, add the chickpeas, cover it with water, going above 1 inch above the chickpeas. Cover the medium bowl and let it soak overnight. In the morning, drain out all the water. Take a kitchen cloth and pat dry the chickpeas. In a food processor, add in the chickpeas, and all the other ingredients, and pulse it till the mixture is coarse enough, where it is borderline fine. DO NOT make it pastey else you will not get proper balls. Cover and let chill in the fridge for ½ hour. You can even make the mixture and store it in the fridge to make it the next day.
- Leave a large plate, with paper towels(to soak up the excess oil), next to the frying pan. In a medium saucepan, add in sunflower oil to half way up the level of the pan. On medium heat, let the oil heat up for about 5-7 minutes. Drop a pinch of the chickpea mixture, and it should immediately come up. That’s how you know that the oil is hot enough. Make a small ice cream scoop size tiny balls, shape them in the palm of your hand, and then drop about 4-5 at a time into the oil. Let it cook for a couple minutes until it is dark in color as shown in the pictures above. Turn them around to make sure they are cooked all over. Remove them from the pan, with a scoopable spatula to drain out the excess oil, onto the plate with the paper towels. Cook all the balls in the same manner.
For either dressing:
- Put all the ingredients in a small bowl, and whisk vigorously for a couple of minutes to make sure it has a smooth consistency. Your dressing is ready!
To assemble the salad:
- Dress the arugula with the dressing. I start off with about 4 tablespoons of the dressing. It should not be wet, but just enough to coat the leaves. Divide the salad equally into 2 salad plates.
- Dress the quinoa with the dressing. I start off with about 4 tablespoons of the dressing. It should not be soaking or dripping with the dressing. Divide the quinoa equally on top of the arugula.
- Now carefully plate all the veggies equally between the 2 plates, and arrange however you like it! Drizzle salad dressing on top of the entire salad. Garnish with thyme leaves! It is ready to eat!
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