Falafel Wraps with Tzatziki Sauce

Healthy vegetarian wraps with homemade baked falafel and fresh tzatziki sauce. Low in fat and calories, and packed with nutritious veggies and herbs.

Course Dinner

Cuisine Mediterranean

Prep Time 20

Cook Time 30

Resting time 2

Total Time 50

Servings wraps

Ingredients

Tzatziki Sauce

1 large cucumber, peeled and grated
⅔ cup plain soy yogurt
2 cloves garlic, minced
2 tablespoons lemon juice
1 teaspoon olive oil

Falafel

1 can (14.5 oz) chickpeas
½ medium brown onion, chopped
2 cloves garlic, chopped
½ cup fresh cilantro, coarsely chopped
½ cup fresh parsley, coarsely chopped
Juice of ½ lemon
1 teaspoon ground cumin
1 teaspoon olive oil
½ teaspoon baking soda
Serve with: lettuce, tomato, cucumbers, pita bread

Instructions

Tzatziki Sauce

Start by making tzatziki. The secret to a great tzatziki is in getting rid of all excess liquid from the cucumber, so make sure you give yourself enough time for this step.
Peel and deseed the cucumber, then grate it and place it in a sieve, resting on a bowl. Leave it like this for at least an hour, and press out excess liquid from time to time with a spoon.
If you want to make sure it's really drained, you can place it on a clean tea towel or even a stack of paper towels and pat it dry.
In a medium bowl, combine the cucumber with yogurt, garlic, lemon juice and olive oil, and give it a good stir. Cover and place in the refrigerator while you prepare falafel for the flavours to fully develop.
You can store the sauce in the fridge in an airtight container for up to 2 days.

Falafel

Combine the chickpeas, onion, garlic, cilantro and parsley in a food processor or a high speed blender. Process until broken down, but still a little chunky. Make sure not to blend it smoothly.
Transfer the mixture to a large bowl and add lemon juice, cumin, olive oil and baking soda. Mix very well.
Spoon 6 equally sized balls and transfer them onto a plate, cover with cling foil and leave in the refrigerator to cool for at least 1 hour. This is essential if you want them to stick together and not fall apart while baking.
Preheat the oven to 200°C (400°F). Line a baking sheet with parchment paper and, when chilled, transfer the balls onto the baking sheet. Press them down slightly with your hand or a spoon to form patties. As they are quite large, this makes them easier to flip while baking.
Bake for 20 minutes, then flip the patties carefully. Bake for another 10 minutes, until well-browned and firm to touch.
Serve with tahini sauce, pita bread and fresh vegetables.

Notes

*This recipe calls for quite a lot of resting time, but the good news is that falafel freezes very well. If you're anything like me, you don't have the time to do this on a weeknight, in which case you can easily double the ingredients (to get 12 pieces), store them in the freezer and pop them in the oven for another 5 to 10 minutes when you're ready to serve them for dinner.

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