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Sesame Falafel with Ginger Tahini and Jalapeño Sauce. YUM.
Watch the How To Video Here:
Sesame Falafel with Ginger Tahini and Jalapeño Sauce from Half Baked Harvest on Vimeo.
If you’re looking for a new and different dinner, something fun, fresh, colorful, and delicious, then this is your dinner. If you are hesitant, don’t be, it’s time for something a little out of the box.
Have you guys ever had falafel? If you’ve been to a Mediterranean style restaurant, than I’m pretty sure you have. They’re little fried balls traditionally made with a mix of ground chickpeas and herbs. They might not sound all that exciting, but they are, and extra delicious too. Even chickpea haters love a good falafel. And today’s falafel recipe is ever so delish. Loaded with plenty of flavor, good texture, and eaten with Naan.
Here’s how this recipe came to be. It involves two people and their desire to eat falafel and naan. Those two people would be my brother Brendan, aka Gerry, and his girlfriend, Lyndsie, aka Chi Chi. Bren and Lyn’s have traveled the world, and eaten everything from bugs to caviar. They very often provide me with some of the best inspiration for my recipes. I am personally not much of a traveler, but obviously they are, and I’m very thankful for their worldly taste in food.
Bren and Lyn’s were in town last week and when I asked them what they wanted to eat while here, Lyn’s requested (errr more like demanded) some fresh naan and homemade falafel. It had been a while since I had made any kind of Mediterranean food, so I was all in for a little falafel.
The thing is, if I was going to make falafel, I needed them to one, be colorful, and two, be different from all the rest. And that’s where my sesame and carrot falafels come into play. Honestly, I’m not sure how I really thought to mix some carrot into my falafel, but it ended up being the best random decision I made all week. I think I really just loved the idea of my little falafel balls being a nice pastel…ish shade of orange. If you guys have not noticed, I am very into the light pastel colors right now. I blame this on spring and Easter…and my desire to break away from dark and dreary winter (isn’t the extra hour of sunlight great).
Anyway, adding in carrot not only added color, but also flavor. I love pairing carrots with sesame seeds and cumin, so naturally I included those as well, and in turn I got the most delicious and perfect homemade falafel. If you could see my face right now, you would be able to see excitement written all over it!
To make the falafel, you’ll need a food processor or blender, it’s key for grinding up the ingredients. What’s awesome is that you mix everything in the food processor, roll the dough into balls, pan fry, and you’re done. It’s about a thirty minute or so process, and while rolling and pan frying can be slightly tedious, believe me, it’s worth it.
I usually serve the falafel with some laban (thick yogurt), avocado, cucumber, and a little home ginger tahini plus spicy jalapeño sauce. The tahini adds a nice creamy touch, while the spicy jalapeño sauce adds an herby, spicy punch, that balances out the sweetness from the carrots.
It’s perfection, so much so that the minute I finished working on this recipe, the plate of food was gone with not a single crumb left. Meaning the recipe was very well loved.
Also, if you wanted to make this as more of a meal prep style recipe, that would work amazingly well. The falafels can be fried and kept in the fridge for easy lunches and dinners. They are good reheated or even just eaten at room temperature. The sauces will keep for at least a week, so you can make those on Sunday too. Then, when you’re ready to eat, just assemble everything and you’ll have lunch or dinner ready within five minutes.
Doesn’t get easier than that.
Now, if only I could eat this while sailing the Mediterranean sea…
Sesame Falafel with Ginger Tahini and Jalapeño Sauce
Servings: 6 servings
Calories Per Serving: 373 kcal
Nutritional information is only an estimate. The accuracy of the nutritional information for any recipe on this site is not guaranteed.
Ingredients
- 1 cup chopped carrots
- 1 can (16 ounces) chickpeas, drained + rinsed
- 1/2 cup all-purpose flour (use a gluten free flour, if needed)
- 1/4 cup raw sesame seeds
- 2 cloves garlic, grated
- 1 teaspoon cumin
- kosher salt and black pepper
- fresh naan, for serving
- tzatziki, laban, or yogurt, for serving
- lettuce, cucumber, and sliced avocado, for serving
Jalapeño Sauce
- 2 jalapeños, seeded and chopped
- 1/2 cup fresh cilantro, chopped
- 1/4 cup fresh dill, chopped
- 1 lemon, juice plus zest
- 2 tablespoons extra virgin olive oil
- kosher salt
Ginger Tahini
- 1/4 cup tahini
- juice of 1/2 a lemon
- 1 inch knob ginger, grated
Instructions
- 1. Add the carrots to a food processor and pulse until finely chopped. Add the chickpeas, flour, sesame seeds, garlic, cumin and a pinch each of salt and pepper. Pulse until the mixture is combined and mostly smooth. Roll the dough into rounded teaspoon size balls.2. Add a few inches of oil to the bottom of a heavy pot. Heat to 375 degrees F.3. Fry the balls for 2-3 minutes or until golden and cooked through. Drain onto paper towels and then sprinkle lightly with salt.4. To assemble, spread each piece of naan with yogurt, top with lettuce, falafels, avocado, and cucumber. Drizzle the ginger tahini and jalapeño sauce (both recipes below) over the falafels. Enjoy!
Jalapeño Sauce
- 1. Combine all ingredients in a bowl.
Ginger Tahini
- 1. Combine all ingredients in a bowl and whisk until completely smooth. Add water to thin the sauce to a drizzling consistency.
I can dream!
It’s National Vegetarian week here in Ireland so I tentatively floated the idea that the family would give it a go and to my absolute surprise they went for it. So far we’ve had a veggie bean chilli, a throw. It all in noodle dish, sweet potato quesadillas, a courgette (zucchini) risotto and today I made these lovely sesame falafel. 4 out of 5 of us loved them and my son was the only Nay as he is a “carrotophobe” so thought I was trying to get one over on him. I especially loved the fresh taste of the jalapeño and herb sauce and think it would be great with lots of dishes. Thanks again for another great recipe Tieghan and of course the pictures are as stunning as always and make you w ant to cook the food.
Hi Linda! I am so glad you enjoyed this week and your week of being vegetarian!
Hi! I am working on the fresh naan and starting to make thé falafels. Only thing I was wondering (since I usual’y concert thé measures unto grams) how many grams of carrots would I need? It s being a little tricky with the conversion of all the ingredients. Hope to make thé recipe for dinner or tomorrow ? thankyou!
Hi Maria, I would say around 125 grams of carrots, but I am not positive on this measurement. Please let me know if you have other questions. Hope you love this recipe! Thanks! 🙂
These were fantastic!! We initially made this for my husband and I, letting the kids have pizza, and after trying them, they all said they would have preferred what we had! I did make some in my air fryer and some fried as the recipe stated. I found that if you turn “fry” them at 400 in the air fryer and turn them half way through, they come out amazing. Lower heat or not turning them they were ‘meh’. Just a tip for anyone else wanting to make these as healthy as possible!
I am so glad you loved this!! Thank you!
Through your pen I found the problem up interesting! I believe there are many other people who are interested in them just like me! How long does it take to complete this article? I hope you continue to have such quality articles to share with everyone! I believe a lot of people will be surprised to read this article! Thanks for your post!
I am so glad you like them! Thank you!
I made this tonight and it was amazing! I had to sub sesame seeds w sunflower seeds and tahini with sunflower butter bc my little one is allergic and it was so good!! The falafel was quick but everything else total led me at two hours! Everyone is requesting I must make this again. Any suggestions on making it speedier? Maybe I’m just a slow cook ha! Also, I’ve made so many of your recipes and they are always delicious! I love your blog! Thank you!
HI!! So glad you loved the recipe! To make it speedier, try just drizzling over the sunflower butter and only making the jalapeno sauce. While I love the tahini sauce, just a drizzle of the sunflower butter will be amazing I am sure! Please let me know if you have other questions. Hope you love this recipe! Thanks! 🙂
This was AMAZING!!! I could eat it every single day! So good and fresh.
Thank you so much!
Wow, this recipe looks amazing. But i’m wondering about one thing. To cook falafels, do you need a deep dryer or just a pan with some oil is enough? It might sounds like a stupid question but as I never did falafel before I really don’t know haha and I really want to try your recipe. Your pictures always make me feel so hungry 🙂
Just a pan with oil works greats! I do n’t own a deep fryer. Please let me know if you have other questions. Hope you love this recipe! Thanks! 🙂
That looks delicious! Definitely going to try it!
I hope you love this! Thank you!
I love it! I need to make this recipe ASAP! Thanks for sharing this with us! I save it for later in my pinterest board “healthy meers tasty” xoxo
http://hiddeninbeauty.com
Thank you Antri!
This looks and sounds absolutely delicious. Can’t wait to make it! Thanks.
Thank you Linda!
This looks so delicious! Definitely needs to happen for dinner!
Thank you Lindsay!
I had never eaten a falafel before so nothing to compare to however these turned out wonderful, I tried to use my air fryer for the chickpea-balls but I ended up frying them in the oil. The air fryer did not do them justice. I forgot to add the cucumber at the end but they turned out excellent anyway. I will definitely make these again!
I am so glad you liked these Traci! Thank you so much!
Made these last night and they are amazing!! Share with both my cousin and sister in law who also want the recipe! Unfortunately I have no photo and can’t pin it to my board?
Hi Ardina! I am so glad you enjoyed this recipe. I will link the Pinterest post below. Let me know if it still is not working or you have any other questions! Thank you!
https://www.pinterest.com/pin/481322278920527539/
Thanks to the author for the article! Very pleased!
Thank you!
Thanks for sharing. I see the novelty of your writing, I will share it for everyone to read together. I look forward to reading many articles from you.
Thanks!