Falafel Burger

Do you love falafel as much as we do? This Middle Eastern staple might appear intimidating to make, but it’s easy if you have a food processor (and it’s even easy if you don’t). We decided we wanted to try something new with these falafels, though, so we turned them into a patty, fried them, and made our very own Falafel Burger!
Prep Time: 15 minutes
Chilling Time: 1 hour
Cook Time: 24 minutes
Yield: 4 servings

Ingredients

• 57 g / 1/4 cup Crystal margarine, divided
• 25 g / 1 cup chopped parsley
• 1/4 medium red onion, chopped
• 2 large cloves garlic
• 20 g / 1 tbsp tahini
• 15 ml / 1 tbsp lemon juice
• 6 g / 1 1/2 tsp ground cumin
• 4 g / 1 tsp ground coriander
• 2 g / 1 tsp dried thyme
• 5 g / 1 tsp baking powder
• 4 g / 3/4 tsp salt
• 1 g / 1/2 tsp ground pepper
• 1 can / 540 ml chickpeas, rinsed and drained
• 31 g / 1/4 cup all-purpose flour

To serve:

• 2 large pita bread, cut in half
• tomato
• cucumber
• red onion
• parsley
• tahini
• plain yogurt

Directions

1. In a small bowl melt 14 grams (1 tablespoon) Crystal margarine on low in the microwave.
2. Combine parsley, onion, garlic, tahini, lemon juice, cumin, coriander, thyme, baking powder, salt, pepper and melted Crystal margarine in the bowl of a food processor. Process until mixture is finely chopped, scraping down the sides of the bowl as needed.




3. Add the chickpeas and flour. Pulse until mixture comes together but there are still pieces of chickpeas visible, about 10 times. Do not process to a smooth paste.




4. Divide the mixture in four and shape into patties about 4 inches (10 centimetres) in diameter.



5. Chill patties in refrigerator for a minimum of 1 hour or up to overnight.
6. To cook, melt remaining Crystal margarine in a large nonstick skillet over medium low heat. Fry falafel burgers until crispy and golden, 10 to 12 minutes on each side.



7. Serve warm in pita halves with tomato, cucumber, onion and parsley. Drizzle with tahini and yogurt and serve warm.

Chef Notes

• To make the falafel burgers without a food processor, very finely chop the parsley, onion and garlic. Add remaining ingredients and mash well with a potato masher until chickpea mixture is able to form a ball. Continue with shaping the patties.
• Use gluten-free oat flour in place of all-purpose flour for gluten-free falafel burgers.
• This recipe goes amazingly with our Sprouted Chickpea Hummus.