Sweet Potato Falafel Wraps

Sweet potato falafels may sound like an abomination to falafel (or at least it did to me when I first tried it), but it is incredible! The flavor combinations are delicious, balanced, and it’s easier for me to make than traditional falafels due to the sweet potatoes. When you combine the sweet potato falafel (which are packed with protein) with onions, peppers, and a special tahini sauce all wrapped up, you will wish you tried this sooner. This is my go to recipe for falafel right now, and it is to die for.

Ingredients for Falafel

• 2/3 c dried chickpeas
• 1 large sweet potato
• 3 cloves garlic
• half lime
• 1 tbsp dark soy sauce*
• 2 tbsp coriander powder*
• 1 tbsp paprika*
• 1/2 tsp cayenne*
• 1/2 tsp salt
• 2 tsp jeera/cumin seeds*
• 1/4 onion*
• 1 handful coriander/cilantro

Ingredients for Toppings

• 3/4 onion (use leftovers from above)
• 1/2 bell pepper
• 1/2 jalepeno*
• bunch of spinach
• tortilla, pita, rice, roti, greens

Ingredients for Tahini Sauce

• 5 heaping tbsp tahini
• half lime
• 8 tbsp water
• 1 tbsp agave
• handful of fresh mint

Recipe for Sweet Potato Falafels

Rinse and soak your chickpeas overnight, and when the chickpeas are swollen, boil your sweet potato until soft. In a blender or food processor, grind the chickpeas until they’re the consistency of bread crumbs. You don’t want a paste, but you don’t want whole or half chickpeas in your falafels. Dump the chickpeas in a large bowl. Mash the sweet potato into the chickpeas until combined.

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Finely chop the garlic and onion before adding to the mix. Go ahead and add the dark soy sauce, lime juice, and spices to the falafel mixture as well. Once all of this is mixed thoroughly, incorporate the fresh coriander (we wait to add it until the end as it tends to be fragile).

Heat a nonstick pan with a little oil to medium-high heat. Use your hands or a pair of spoons to make the mixture into little balls or patties. Now, you’re ready to fry or bake them. I opt to cook them with a little oil to make them healthier, but still seem slightly fried. Each falafel will need to cook on each side around 3-5 minutes or until browned and crispy.

Recipe for Toppings

For the toppings, all you need to do is saute the onions, bell pepper, and jalepeno until the onions are browned. Wash and set aside a handful of spinach or greens of your choosing.

Recipe for Tahini Sauce

Combine your tahini, lime juice, agave, and water in a small bowl or cup. Whisk everything together until it forms a velvety smooth sauce or paste. Once it has reached a smooth consistency, add finely chopped mint leaves and let sit as that allows the flavors to develop together.

Assembly!!!

Throw the toppings and sweet potato falafels on your preferred carb or greens, and top with the tahini sauce. It blew my mind; I hope it does the same to yours.

**Inspired by the Happy Pear brothers recipe for Sweet potato falafel nuggets**

*As always friends, use what you have. If you happen to not have an ingredient that’s not a main part, it’s ok. I encourage you to substitute it! This makes an excellent recipe to meal prep, as you can reheat the little falafels throughout the week!

Hummus

Great hummus is amazing, and it can be life altering. It has been an obsession for me, for the entirety of my adult life. However, most people haven’t had great hummus; they’ve had store bought versions or their own homemade types that aren’t necessarily true to traditional flavors. You can choose to eat it from the store, or you can make this incredible recipe that you will much prefer as I have poured years of time, passion, and love into this hummus.

Ingredients

• 32 oz canned chickpeas (best if you start fresh, soak, and cook, but canned are more convenient for me at the moment)
• 1+ c tahini
• 1 lemon (or lime in a pinch)
• 4-5 garlic cloves
• salt to taste (1/4-1/2 tsp)
• chickpea water from cooking
• olive oil for garnish*
• paprika, zaatar, cumin, harissa for garnish*

Recipe

It’s not so much the ingredients that make a good hummus, but the method and ratios. To begin, drain and rinse your chickpeas until there are no more bubbles. Plop them in a pot on medium heat with the garlic. Fill the empty can with water 1 1/2 times and add to the pot. Make sure to boil the chickpeas until they smoosh between your fingers VERY easily, but not until they disintegrate. (Approximately 30 minutes.)

Chickpeas once cooked and looking about to burst.

Once the chickpeas are cooked, take a utensil with slots and fish them out of the water, so you can keep the water for later use.

Into the blender or food processor goes your lemon, tahini, and some (about 1/3 c) of the hot chickpea water. Blend until you get a smooth, light, and fluffy consistency. It may take a little extra water or tahini here or there until you get to that point, which is ok. One cannot have too much tahini.

Shown above is the evolution of the sauce (enlarged so you can see it clearly), from the ingredients and first blend to the second blend after adding more chickpea water. The picture to the far right is the end consistency you want (this sauce doubles as a salad dressing :0 ).

Once you have achieved this, dump in your salt and chickpeas (they must hot out of the pot), except a couple spoonfuls chickpeas to serve on top of the finished yumminess. Blend everything together until you reach a fluffy light consistency again; it may take more tahini (1-2 tbsp) and hot chickpea water (1/4 c) to reach this point. Do not despair; it took me YEARS to get to this recipe. All you need to do is tweak your ratios a bit.

This is the consistency you want: velvet.

After reaching that light, fluffy, and creamy heavenly goodness, plate it while hot and fresh, top with the leftover hot chickpeas, olive oil, and your choice of spices. Serve with naan, pita, roti, flatbread of some sort, potatoes, roasted vegetables, pulaos, biryani, chorizo potatoes, huevos rancheros, fresh greens, rice, etc; seriously, whatever you have! You can even use hummus as a pasta sauce if you cook the pasta and add it to the hummus with some pasta water to thin it out. I’ve done it with pasta and broccoli; it was delicious. Whatever you do, I highly, highly recommend that you eat this fresh instead of popping it in the fridge. It may be good cold, but it will be amazing fresh.

*None of these ingredients are optional except the garnishes if you want quality hummus, otherwise it will be mediocre.

The tahini I buy at a middle eastern market. The seeds aren’t toasted as much for this tahini (making it lighter and less bitter) than the seeds in the tahini you find at American chain grocery stores.