Eggplant & Tahini Falafel With Tzatziki Sauce
Ever since our life took a wild turn for the dirt we’ve been busy cultivating a lot of vegetables that I didn’t grow up eating. Eggplant is definitely something I hadn’t eaten a lot of prior to becoming a farmer and to be honest, I was somewhat intimidated by it when I first began cooking. However, now that we grow hundreds of eggplants I’ve come to adore this vegetable and treasure each dish we prepare while it’s in season. At this point in the game, it’s hard to imagine my life without this wonderful vegetable and I’m so happy we’ve had an amazing crop this season.
These falafel are a great dish to whip up for an eggplant skeptic. Taylor loved them because they were lightly fried and perfectly crisp. I was happy with the vibrant middle eastern flavors going on and couldn’t get enough of the tzatziki sauce (it’s spoon worthy!) Anyhow, I hope you all enjoy these as much as we do. They’re easy to prepare and are a great side dish to bring to a potluck or dinner party.
Eggplant & Tahini Falafel With Tzatziki Sauce
Prep Time: 30 minutes Cook Time: 15 minutes Serves: 16-18 falafels
Tzatziki Sauce- 1 cup full-fat yogurt (grass-fed preferred or substitute plant based-yogurt for vegan option)
- 1 cucumber, peeled and diced
- 1 Tablespoon olive oil
- 2 Tablespoons lemon juice
- 1 1/2 Tablespoons minced dill
- 2 cloves of garlic, minced
- salt + pepper to taste
- 2 Tablespoons olive oil
- 1 medium-sized eggplant, chopped into 1/2 inch cubes (about 2 1/2 cups worth)
- 1/2 Tablespoon ground cumin
- 1/2 Tablespoon ground coriander
- 1 1/2 cups cooked chickpeas (if from the can rinsed and drained)
- 1/4 cup tahini
- 3 cloves of garlic, chopped
- 1/2 cup fresh parsley, chopped
- 1/4 cup fresh mint, chopped
- 1/2 cup chickpea flour (may substitute with all purpose flour if need be)
- 1/4 cup grapeseed oil (or another high heat oil) for frying + additional oil as needed
Preparation
- Prepare the tzatziki sauce by combining all the ingredients in a bowl and stirring until smooth. Taste test and adjust seasonings as necessary. Cover and place in the refrigerator for at least 30 minutes prior to serving.
- Preheat the oven to 375F. Toss the eggplant with the olive oil and place on a prepared baking sheet. Roast in the oven until lightly brown on all sides, about 20-25 minutes. Toss eggplant halfway through cooking. Remove from the oven and let the eggplant slightly cool.
- In the bowl of a food processor add the cooked eggplant, coriander, cumin, chickpeas, tahini, garlic, parsley, mint and chickpea flour. Process until combined and smooth, scraping down the sides of the food processor as necessary. Spoon the mixture into a bowl and cover with a dish towel and place in the freezer for 20 minutes.
- Heat the grapeseed oil in a large skillet over medium- high heat. Form the batter into 1/2 inch thick patties and fry for about 2-3 minutes per side, or until golden brown. Add more oil to the pan as necessary.
- Serve the falafel warm with the tzatziki sauce
Notes
*Use this recipe as a guide *Adjust measurements and ingredients as necessary *Cooking times will vary depending on ingredients and specific ovens *Have fun in the kitchen
Hi there! Love this blog.
I have a question about this recipe – why peal the eggplant?
/Lisa 🙂
So happy to have discovered your beautiful blog! This is such a gorgeous recipe, Tzatziki is a regular feature on our weekly menu – will be lovely to try these falafels too!!
Gorgeous, as always. This will be a good way to use up some free cucumbers I got this week!
These fell apart in the frying pan! What a disappointment.
I’m sorry that happened to you. We make these all the time in the summer without any issues with them falling apart. Fritters can be a little on the fragile side but they shouldn’t be overly flimsy to work with. I hope you were able to salvage some and enjoy the flavor. Did you make any changes to the recipe? Again, I’m sorry it was a disappointment. Hopefully you give them another shot!
I was discouraged to try this recipe by reading the two negative reviews, but I decided to brush them off and trust Andrea’s recipe, just like I always do. And I’m glad that I did, because these could not be more ok! They’re perfectly fine to works with, don’t fall apart even a little bit, and they taste good. I don’t like mint so I left it out, I like less tahini than recipes call for so 2T was enough for me, also used a bit less cumin, and I swapped half of the chickpea flour for whole spelt, otherwise followed the directions. I couldn’t really taste the eggplant though? My mom was incredibly happy with this recipe and inhaled them!
I don’t usually comment, but I make recipes from DUTD all the time and very much love almost all of them; I love how inspired and ‘different’ they are, and it often makes my day to try and love some new flavor combinations that I learn here; so I felt compelled to say something because these poor little falafel didn’t deserve the only comments about them to be negative, and in my opinion, kinda weird and false.
so happy you loved it as much as we do! cheers
I forgot to mention that salt and pepper are missing from the falafel ingredients! I’m glad I remembered them on my own.. 🙂