Falafel with Tsatziki Sauce

After the dinner party the other night, where we made a modified Tsatziki sauce for Quinoa burgers (and yes, I know I still have to put up the recipe for that), I had some leftover ingredients and decided to make falafel with a slightly more complete Tsatziki than I had made the other night.  I made it super garlicky, like the kind of garlic thing that leaves your mouth burning for an hour after you're done eating, but it was oh-so-good.  As for the actual falafel, this was a modified, lazy version of falafel which was still quite tasty but not the super-authentic-straight-from-the-Middle-East kind of falafel.  So if you want real falafel, don't make this.  If you want a fast, falafel-ish meal, this is the place to look.  In case you're wondering, I browsed this site as well as this recipe from vegweb to get ideas for how to go about making the falafel and sauce.

By the way, if possible, make the Tsatziki sauce first so that the flavors have some time to meld together.

Tsatziki Ingredients:

1 small container (or about 6 oz) of plain Greek yogurt. You could use normal yogurt too, but the Greek yogurt is thicker and works better as a base for the sauce.
3 Tbs non-fat sour cream 
1/2 a cucumber, peeled and seeded, and cut into small chunks or grated.
1-4 cloves of garlic (finely chopped or put through a garlic press), depending on your love of garlic (taste and decide!)
2 Tbs finely chopped dill
1/2 tsp lemon juice
1 tsp olive oil (or more if you want)
Salt and pepper to taste 

Directions:

Mix all the ingredients together thoroughly.  Ideally let it sit for a little while to let the flavors blend together (but keep refrigerated).  Serve cold.


Falafel Ingredients:
1 smallish onion, chopped
1 (15 oz) can of chickpeas, drained, rinsed, and roughly mashed
1 1/2 Tbs parsley (more if it's fresh)
2 cloves of garlic, minced
1/2 tsp lemon juice
1 tsp olive oil
2 Tbs flour, or more if needed
1/2 tsp turmeric
1/4 tsp coriander
salt and pepper to taste
olive oil for frying

Note: I didn't have my ground flaxseeds at the time, but if I did I probably would have added some in to make the mixture more cohesive.  Some recipes called for egg, which I didn't add, so I think the flax would have worked out nicely.

Falafel Directions:
1.  Saute the onion in a pan with a little bit of olive oil, just enough so that they begin to soften and turn translucent.
2.  While the onion is cooking, throw the chickpeas in a bowl and roughly mash them- some chickpea lumps are ok!
3.  Throw in all the other ingredients (including the onions, once they're done) and mix together thoroughly.  Once it's all mixed, taste it to see if it needs anything else.  If it's not sticking together at all, add in a bit more flour.
4.  Put some olive oil in a pan (I'm lazy and used the same pan from the onions- it's one less dish to wash) and heat it on medium.   Form the mixture into small patties, and then fry in the pan until browned on both sides.  I left mine on the lighter side, but some people like theirs darker.  Either way is delicious.

Serve this falafel in a pita with some lettuce, tomato, and onion, and top with the tsatziki sauce.  Yum!