Do you read Thug Kitchen? If not, you totally should. Unless you’re easily offended by cursing, and then you really shouldn’t.
I think the website is hilarious. I feel like if my college friends and I had a cooking show, it would be like Thug Kitchen. Probably less cursing, but the same idea that you’re awesome, what you’re making is awesome, and not to take it all too seriously. Anyway, today’s recipe comes from him.
When I found this recipe I was excited because I thought it would be something both Ryan and I would like. I want to have more meatless dinners, but it’s got to be satisfying and delicious for both me and Ryan. This seemed perfect because chickpeas are filling, there’s vegetables in the falafel, and the buffalo sauce is really flavorful and delicious. Also, Ryan and I were recently in Charlottesville, VA and ate at One Meatball Place and I loved their special buffalo chicken meatball. It was so juicy and amazing and I was eager to try something similar again soon.
Suffice it to say, I was inspired and Ryan and I were going to have buffalo falafel for dinner! I really liked it and had the leftovers for lunch for the next two days. It was spicy, flavorful, and I’ll call it “healthy” since there’s cauliflower in it. And as a broad generalization, I think it’s a good balance of foods girls like and foods boys like. I recommend eating it on pita bread or over lettuce and drizzled with ranch dressing.
If you don’t like spicy, you could still make the falafel and pair it with your favorite sauce. This sauce is great though, and I’d use it on chicken wings or any other meal where you’d like to add a kick.
Ingredients:
Falafel:
1 15oz can of chickpeas, drained
1/3 of pound cauliflower
1/4 cup diced onion
2 gloves garlic, finely chopped
1 tsp olive oil
1/2 tsp all-purpose seasoning
2 tbsp bread crumbs
Buffalo Sauce:
2 tbsp olive oil
2 tbsp flour
1 cup cayenne based hot sauce
1/4 cup water
1 tbsp vinegar
Directions:
1. Preheat oven to 400°. Grease a baking sheet
2. Using a food processor, chop up the cauliflower until it’s in tiny pieces.
3. In a bowl, mash the chickpeas until fairly smooth. You can leave some chunks, but you want it to be smooth enough so you can form chickpea balls.
4. Add the cauliflower, garlic, onion, oil, seasoning, and bread crumbs to the chickpea paste. Mix.
5. Form the mix into balls. It will make a little more than a dozen.
6. Put the balls on a baking sheet. Cook for 12 minutes, flip, then cook for 12 more minutes. They should be lightly brown on the outside.
7. While the balls are baking, start on the sauce. In a saucepan, heat oil
8. Add flour to oil. Stir continuously until it is golden. This takes about 3-4 minutes. Don’t let it boil.
9. Add half the hot sauce and mix. It should thicken up.
10. Add the rest of the hot sauce, water, and vinegar. Mix until smooth. It will smell spicy!!
11. After the falafels are done baking, pour buffalo sauce on top of them and bake for another 5 minutes. It’s less messy if you gather the balls on your baking sheet, then pour the sauce on them.
12. Serve and eat!
Messy level: I give this two spoons. It’s pretty self contained and there’s nothing that really splatters. I think it’s important to really grease the baking sheet well. I had a hard time flipping the balls over and so it made clean up a little more challenging.
