Baked Falafels with avocado hummus

I am a big fan of stuffed pita pockets. Warm and fluffy pita bread stuffed with delicious Falafel nuggets, garlicky avocado hummus, cooling tzatziki sauce, fresh lettuce and tomatoes with pickled onions makes a great summer lunch. Baking the Falafels instead of frying them makes them lighter and healthier. The avocado hummus is packed with good fats from the avocado and protein from the garbanzo beans. Put together, this stuffed pita pocket makes a perfectly balanced meal.

Serves: 4, Prep. time: 30 minutes, cook time: 30 minutes

Ingredients:

Falafels:

• 2 cups cooked chickpeas/garbanzo beans (roughly one and a half 15 oz. cans)

• 1 cup roughly chopped cilantro/parsley leaves

• 1/3 cup chopped celery stalks (optional)

• 1/3 cup roughly chopped red onion

• 3 cloves garlic

• 1 tsp salt

• 1 tbsp ground cumin

• 2 tsp paprika

• 1 tsp ground black pepper

• 2 tbsp freshly squeezed lemon juice

• 3 tbsp flour

• olive oil

Avocado hummus:

• 2/3 cup cooked chickpeas/garbanzo beans (roughly half a 15 oz. can)

• 1 medium sized ripe avocado

• 1/4 cup cilantro leaves

• 2 garlic cloves

• 1 tsp chili powder (more if you like it spicy)

• 1/2 tsp ground black pepper

• 1 tsp salt

• 1/2 tsp ground cumin

• 2 tbsp freshly squeezed lime juice

Directions:

To make the falafel:

1. Preheat oven to 375F.

2. Make sure chickpeas are drained. Add all the ingredients except the flour and olive oil to a food processor and pulse until it forms a crumbly mixture. You can keep it a bit chunky if you like. Do not over process.

3. Transfer the mixture to a bowl and add the flour. The flour will soak up the excess moisture making it easier to mold the falafels.

4. Taste the mixture at this point and adjust salt to your taste.

5. Lightly grease a baking sheet as well as the palms of your hands. Roll out the falafels to your desired shape. In my experience, rolling them out as long, 1/2 inch thick rectangles makes them cook faster. Place them on the baking sheet, 1 inch apart.

6. Bake at 375F for 15 minutes, flip them over and cook for additional 15 minutes.

To make the avocado hummus:

1. Add all the ingredients to a food processor and pulse till it forms a smooth, creamy mixture. The avocado provides the creaminess and replaces the olive oil found in traditional hummus. You can add some olive oil if you like.

Assemble the pita pockets:

1. Cut open a warm whole wheat pita pocket (I used store bought) and in the cavity, spread a generous layer of the avocado hummus.

2. Place 2 or 3 falafel nuggets.

3. Drizzle some tzatziki sauce (easy recipe: Mix finely chopped cucumber, fresh or dried dill leaves, salt and pepper with some full fat yogurt) over the nuggets. Add fresh lettuce, tomatoes and pickled red onions. Serve with a dollop of avocado hummus on the side and extra pita bread.

Let me know how you like my version of a Falafel pita pocket in the comments below!