Meatless Dinners: Low Fat Vegan Falafel with Fat Free Tzatziki Sauce

I did a bunch of research and looked at a million falafel recipes. I combined some recipes and made this baked version below. It was delicious and would be added onto our rotation even if not on the new low fat vegan plan. It feels very substantial and filling and the kids LOVED it! We loved the flavor of cilantro and garlic bursting through. (You can sub fresh parsley for cilantro if you aren't a fan.)

To make the Tzatziki sauce:
Throw the following ingredients in a food processor. Refrigerate for an hour. Done! This made way more than we needed.

Plain Soy Yogurt, 6 to 8 oz
1 Cucumber, peeled and seeded
Juice from 1/2 Lemon (just a spritz really)
Dill weed, fresh, 3 tbs.
Garlic, 1-2 cloves (the more you add, the more the bite)
Salt and pepper to taste

Rinse out the food processor because you'll need it again!

For the Falafels:

Throw in the following except the flour into the food processor and thoroughly mix/process:

1 can of chickpeas or fava beans, drained
1/4 cup onion, chopped
1/4 cup cilantro
2 garlic cloves
1 tsp ground cumin
1/4 tsp ground coriander
1/4 tsp salt
1/4 tsp baking soda
1 Tbsp whole wheat flour

Hand mix in flour. Make into 10 little patties. Cook in an oven safe skillet pan for two minutes per side (until browned on both sides). Transfer to preheated oven and bake for 5 more minutes. Stuff two patties in each half pocket. Makes 5 half pockets. (I made my pita sandwiches with 1 and 1/2 falafels per pocket.) You could easily make this into 8 little patties and use two per pocket just keep in mind it will alter the nutritional facts. I divided it this way because I have a family of 5 and I needed it to stretch.

You'll need:
1 package of whole wheat pita pockets (or 4 or 5 you made from scratch using this recipe)
lettuce, tomatoes or other preferred veggies.

I made a big plate of lettuce and tomatoes and let the kids pic what veggies they wanted in their pita pockets. I'm going to make a double recipe next time. The kids loved these and they would make great leftovers!

Nutritonal Information

Sauce (10 servings)
 Calories 34.8
 Total Fat 0.7 g
    Saturated Fat 0.1 g
    Polyunsaturated Fat 0.0 g
    Monounsaturated Fat 0.0 g
    Cholesterol 0.0 mg
  Sodium 53.6 mg
  Potassium 61.9 mg
  Total Carbohydrate 5.8 g
     Dietary Fiber 0.5 g
     Sugars 3.0 g
  Protein 1.3 g

Falafel (10 servings - 1 cake each)
Calories 35.0
  Total Fat 0.7 g
     Saturated Fat 0.0 g
     Polyunsaturated Fat 0.0 g
     Monounsaturated Fat 0.1 g
  Cholesterol 0.0 mg
  Sodium 187.6 mg
  Potassium 106.7 mg
  Total Carbohydrate 6.1 g
     Dietary Fiber 1.5 g
     Sugars 0.3 g
  Protein 4.8 g

Cost Analysis:
1 can beans $1
1/2 onion $.50
garlic $.25
cilantro $.50
lettuce $.75
tomatoes $1
cucumber $.75
soy yogurt $1
incidental pantry staples (spices, etc.) $.50
whole wheat pita pockets $1.50
generic side vegetable to complete the meal $1.50
=$9.25/4 =$2.30 per serving