Quite Curious

I hail from the city of San Jose, California, which other than being home to one million people and the birthplace of all things tech, has nothing that remarkable about it compared to it’s San Francisco neighbor. EXCEPT. For the best. Falafel. Drive in. Ever.

5 stars and 929 reviews on Yelp can’t be wrong. It was even featured on an episode of Food Network’s Diners, Drive-ins, and Dives with Guy Fieri. Nestled between a run down neighborhood and a luxury shopping mall, it’s easy to miss. Falafel Drive-In is a restaurant food-shack that almost always has a line snaking around the building from the order window that’s well worth the wait for out-of-this-world falafel sandwiches.

Wait, where was I going with this? Oh yeah. So since I moved away from San Jose and from my beloved Falafel Drive-In, I’ve been on a hunt to find delicious falafel sandwiches elsewhere in the Bay Area. There are some good ones here and there, but so far, none compare to the greatness of the Falafel Drive-In. So, I decided to make my own. Still not quite as good, but much better than some of the other ones I’ve had. And better yet, it’s baked instead of deep-fried (fried vegetables and sweets are every vegetarian’s weakness), which means I can let myself have falafel sandwiches whenever I want now. Enjoy!

(Images from Washington Times and CityVoter)

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Recipe from ChowVegan »

I normally stay away from 1) beans and 2) canned vegetables, but I’ll make the exception for homemade falafel.

The recipe asks for mashing the garbanzo beans with a fork, but I went ahead and used my food processor. It didn’t make that much of a difference in my opinion.

Canned veggies are better when paired with fresh ones! There’s lots of fresh parsley, cilantro, onion, and garlic in this recipe.

Dried coriander, cumin, and red pepper flakes for a kick.

The falafel mix, ready to be shaped into individual pieces. A little bit on the gooey side, but the flour holds it together well.

Because this is baked rather than fried, the falafel balls need to be flattened so that there is more surface area touching the hot cookie sheet - this is what makes them crispy.

Meanwhile, I made a sauce using Greek yogurt as the base, lots of mashed garlic, juice from one lemon, chopped dill, a drizzle of olive oil, and dash of paprika.

I ate my falafel balls in a pita pocket with cucumbers, sprouts, hot sauce, and the yogurt sauce.

Image courtesy of ChowVegan…since my falafel sandwich never made it to the photo shoot. Sorry, guys.

See all photos here »
Recipe from ChowVegan »