I wasn't always a fan of falafel; in fact I used to hate it. A couple of years ago I went to a falafel spot at BU with some pals, and they made the best and only falafel I would ever eat. A couple of days ago I started craving falafel, but it's usually fried. I decided to fix up a falafel recipe that's both low in fat and extra high in protein. Bonus, it's easy to make!

Nutritional Facts

Serving size: 8-9 falafel balls

• Calories: 511

• Protein: 47 grams

• Carbohydrate: 56 grams

• Dietary Fiber: 14 grams

• Fat: 11 grams

Cooking Instructions

Ingredients:

• 200g chickpeas (dry and soaked overnight, don't use the canned ones they're too soft!Make sure you weigh AFTER soaking the chickpeas overnight!!)

• 1 bag of sea salt vinegar Quest Nutrition protein chips

• 58g fat free Greek yogurt

• 1 egg (I used Eggland's Best, it's 1g less of fat)

• 2 tbsp ground flax seed

• 2 tsp ground cumin

• 1 tsp garlic paste

• 1/2 tsp cayenne pepper

• 1/2 tsp sea salt

• Parsley to taste

Directions:

1. In a food processor, grind up the Quest chips till fine. Then add all other ingredients and pulse until all the chickpeas are ground up. Make sure you don't make paste out of your mix! It should still have a choppy texture.
   
   

2. Spray a baking tin with pam and preheat your oven to 375 degrees.
   
   

3. Take out some of the falafel mix and mold into balls with your hands. You should have no problem with the balls holding their shape because eggs/flax are binding agents. If you're having an issue, just add a little extra flax or egg, whichever you prefer.
   
   

4. Space the falafel balls out evenly on the baking tin and bake for about 15 minutes on each side, or until golden brown.
   
   

5. You can eat your falafel on a bed of spinach, cucumber, pickle, and tomato, or in a whole wheat pita. I topped them with tahini from Trader Joe's, but if you're trying to keep your fat intake low and you want to add more protein, just mix 1/4 cup fat free Greek yogurt, sea salt, cayenne pepper, and 1 tsp olive oil and top with that instead!
   
   

6. Enjoy!

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