This a variation of one of our dinners at my recent Easter Yoga Retreat.
The quinoa in the felafels makes them lighter, but can also make them a bit crumbly and a little on the dry side. The creamy tahini dressing seems to balance this nicely though so have plenty to serve!
Sauerkraut goes really well with this salad too. Not only does it taste great, but it also helps you digest the chickpeas which can sometimes be tough on the belly! Sauerkraut contains lactic-acid which helps break down proteins and aids the assimilation by the body. Here is another post on fermented vegetables.
For the retreat I served the felafel as a stack with warm roast sweet potato as the weather was a little cooler than planned! They are also great served with red cabbage or lettuce cups to act as a wrap. Pile everything in the leaf and wrap it all up.
Or you can just pile them over a salad as I've done here.
Quinoa felafel with kale salad, tahini dressing and purple saurkraut
Felafel
2 cups of cooked chickpeas
1 small onion, chopped
About 4 shallots, chopped
2 teaspoons of ground cumin
Juice of one lemon
2 tablespoons of ghee (or coconut or olive oil)
Salt and pepper to taste
1 tablespoon of almond meal (or use flour)
1 teaspoon of bicarbonate soda
1 cup of cooked quinoa
1 tablespoon of sesame seeds
Place the chickpeas, onion, shallots, cumin, lemon juice, ghee and salt and pepper in your blender. Process until it still has some chunks to it, but resembles a paste. Add the bicarbonate soda and pulse again. Pour into a bowl and stir in the quinoa and sesame seeds.
Shape into small balls and place on a baking tray. Drizzle with extra ghee and bake for around 20 minutes.
Kale salad (add any extras here! Herbs, rocket or any other green leaves you have)
A bunch of kale finely chopped
A quarter of a green green cabbage finely chopped (or use a red one if you're not serving saurkraut)
1 cup of activated or toasted sunflower seeds.
Simply toss everything together and stir through generous amounts of tahini dressing.
I had some avocado and tomatoes so I put then in too.
Tahini dressing
1/2 cup of tahini
1/4 cup of maple syrup
2 tablespoons of extra virgin olive oil
1 tablespoon of lemon juice
1 tablespoon of apple cider vinegar
1 tablespoon of poppy seeds or nigella seeds
salt and pepper to taste
A dash of smoked paprika is also an option.
Place everything in a jar and shake well. If it's too thick then just add some water and shake again.
Serve it through the salad and dollop over the felafels as you serve.
The purple sauerkraut recipe is here.
