Baked Falafel and Pumpkin Hummus

Shalom, bloggies! Let’s take a little voyage back to the Motherland- Israel! Since moving from New York City to Austin, Texas, I have gotten my fill of BBQ brisket and queso. Mmm meat. No complaints here, but I do miss the dozens of falafel restaurants on St. Marks near my NYC apartment. The crispy fried balls of deliciousness, combined with the smooth hummus. You just can’t beat it with a stick! So I was pretty pumped to attempt my own, with a spin of course. Let’s start with the chickpeas! It is super easy to use dry chickpeas for both these recipes. And super tasty to boot! To begin our recipes, let’s make a big ole batch. But I totally understand laziness, so feel free to use inferior canned chickpeas. First, put your chickpeas in a large bowl and cover with several inches of water. Let it stand 8 hours or overnight. Then, drain and rinse the chickpeas.

Place your chickpeas in a large saucepan and cover with water. Bring to a boil, then reduce the heat to medium. Cover, and simmer for two hours or so. Basically, keep simmering until your chickpeas taste like chickpeas! Once cooked, refrigerate with the liquid until the chickpeas are cold.

That’s it! Drain your chickpeas and make sure to reserve the liquid. You are all ready to make your very own falafel and hummus!

Falafel time! Here is all you need to make your own falafel. I went with a baked method instead of deep fried. I loosely based my recipe on this one, except I spelled falafel correctly.

(I also ended up adding some flour in too when my dough was a bit too sticky.) Put 1.5 cups of chickpeas in your food processor. Then, chop up the garlic, parsley and onion and add them to the mix.

Next up, add the olive oil, egg, spices and lemon.

My dough was a bit sticky, so I added some flour as well.

Mix it up until all the ingredients are combined, but the dough is still a bit grainy. Make 16 balls with your dough and brush with olive oil. Bake on a cookie sheet for 15 minutes, flip, and then bake for 15 more minutes until your falafel is crispy. Enjoy!

Falafel goes with hummus like peanut butter goes with jelly- it just works oh so well! All you need is chickpeas, tahini, pumpkin…

Um exsqueeze me? What is pumpkin doing in the mix? Well pumpkin is pretty much the best flavor ever, and it makes an extra creamy awesome hummus, with a subtle pumpkin flavor. You can thank me later. Start by putting the chickpeas in your food processor with the liquid and blend until smooth.

Next up, throw all the other ingredients on top: pumpkin, lemon juice, olive oil, tahini, garlic and spices.

Blend away, and there you have it! How easy was that? Not to brag, but this hummus is fantastic. Nearly as good as my beloved Sabra, which surely gets its tastiness from loads of added crack olive oil.

I didn’t make my own pita (this time) but I wanted to share with you the brand I did use. Bible Bread- that’s how you know it’s the good stuff!

Garnish with some cucumbers and tomatoes, and you have one tasty sandwich!

Hope you enjoy!

Chickpeas

1. Put chickpeas in a large bowl and cover with several inches of water.
2. Let stand 8 hours to overnight. Drain and rinse.
3. Place chickpeas in a large saucepan and cover with water. Bring to a boil, then reduce the heat to medium. Cover, and simmer for two hours or until your chickpeas taste like chickpeas.
4. Once chickpeas are cooked, refrigerate with the liquid until cold. Make sure to save the liquid. Your chickpeas are ready to use!

Baked Falafel Makes 4 servings Ingredients:

• 1.5 cups chickpeas (1 can)
• 1/4 cup chopped onion
• 1/4 cup flour
• 1 egg
• 1 cloves minced garlic
• 2 teaspoons cumin
• 1/4 cup shopped parsley leaves
• 1 tablespoon olive oil plus more for brushing
• Juice of 1 lemon
• Salt to taste

1. Preheat oven to 425 degrees.
2. Combine all the ingredients into a food processor until the mixture is combined but still grainy.
3. Form mixture into 16 balls ad brush with extra olive oil.
4. Bake on a cookie sheet for 15 minutes, flip, and bake an additional 15 minutes until balls are crispy.

Pumpkin Hummus Makes 4 cups Ingredients:

• 1 cup dry chickpeas or 3 cups cooked chickpeas (2 cans)
• 1/2 cup chickpea liquid
• 1/2 (15 ounce) canned pumpkin
• 1/4 cup lemon (about 2 lemons)
• 2 tablespoons olive oil
• 3 tablespoons tahini paste
• 1 clove minced garlic
• 1/2 teaspoon pumpkin pie spice
• 1/4 teaspoon paprika
• 1/4 teaspoon cumin
• Salt to taste

1. Put the chickpeas and liquid into a food processor and mix until smooth.
2. Add in the pumpkin, lemon juice, olive oil, tahini, garlic, salt and spices.
3. Mix it up again, and add more liquid if needed to make it smoother.