Baked Falafel Pie

Ingredients

• 1 cup dried chickpeas (or about 2 1/2 cups canned chickpeas, drained and rinsed)
• 1/2 large onion, roughly chopped (about 1 cup)
• 2 tablespoons finely chopped fresh parsley
• 2 tablespoons finely chopped fresh cilantro
• 1 teaspoon salt
• 1/4 teaspoon dried hot red pepper
• 4 cloves of garlic
• 1 teaspoon cumin
• 1 teaspoon baking powder
• 4 – 6 tablespoons flour
• Vegetable oil
• 1/2 cup chopped tomato
• 1 large cucumber, sliced
• 1/2 cup Kalamata olives
• 3/4 cup Hummus
• Cucumber Sauce (see below for recipe)

Directions:

1. Put the chickpeas in a large bowl and add enough cold water to cover them by at least 2 inches. Let soak overnight, then drain. (Skip this step if using canned chickpeas)
2. Heat oven to 375 degrees.
3. Place the drained, uncooked chickpeas and the onion half in the bowl of a food processor fitted with a steel blade. Add the parsley, cilantro, salt, hot pepper, garlic, and cumin. Process until blended but not pureed. (Watch for over-processing with canned chickpeas)
4. Sprinkle in the baking powder and 4 tablespoons of the flour, and pulse. You want to add enough flour so that the dough can form a small ball. Add extra flour if necessary.
5. Liberally oil the bottom of 1 or 2 9″ pie pans. (If you want an extra thick layer of falafel, use just a single pie pan. The pictures in this post show the thickness when divided among two pie pans.) Add the falafel mix into the pie pan(s) and pat it down until it is uniformly flat. Brush the top of the falafel with more oil. Bake just until the top appears dry and the falafel is firm to the touch, about 15-17 min if using 2 pie pans and 20-23 min if using one.
6. Top falafel with hummus, cucumbers and tomatoes. Drizzle with cucumber sauce and sprinkle with chopped olives. Serve.

About an hour before my dinner party, I realized I needed a pretty dish to serve my pie in. Hill’s Kitchen comes through again! They just started carrying this beautiful Terracotta pottery imported from Spain. This guy was just $12.95!

For the Cucumber Yogurt Sauce:

Ingredients:

• 1 cup plain yogurt
• 1/4 cucumber
• 1 clove garlic, crushed
• 1/2 T lemon juice
• Salt and white pepper, to taste
• Pinch ground cayenne pepper

Directions

1. Grate cucumber with a box grater set over several layers of paper towels. Using the paper towels, squeeze out excess water from the cucumber.
2. Add cucumber to the rest of the ingredients in a small bowl and mix well. Refrigerate if not using immediately.