INGREDIENTS (serves 4)

For falafel balls:
1 cup dry chickpeas
1/2 cup dry green peas
1/2 cup  dry black eyed peas
1 cup spinach or kale, washed and finely chopped
1/2 cup cilantro leaves, washed and finely chopped
2 celery sticks, washed and chopped
4 or 5 stalks of green onions/scallions
3 green chilis 🌶 ( or to taste)
3 garlic cloves
salt to taste
oil for deep frying

For sandwiches/salad:

4 gluten-free pita breads
1 1/2 Cups of Spinach, washed and chopped
2 pickle cucumbers
1 large tomato
1/2 yellow bell pepper
1/2 orange bell pepper

For the Hot Sauce ( or you can buy allergy friendly hot sauce):

1/2 cup roasted split chickpeas (can be purchased in an Indian store per this link: http://store.patelbros.com/swad-chana-dalia/ )

1 red hot chili pepper 🌶
1/4 cup cilantro leaves, washed and chopped
1/2 teaspoon cumin seeds
Juice from 1/2 of a fresh lemon 🍋
1 garlic clove
salt to taste

For the Tahini Sauce:
There are many brands of vegan and gluten free tahini. and Cedar’s is one of them per the picture below.

Note that if you have sesame allergies, you can substitute equal amounts of soy yogurt instead.
2 tablespoons of tahini or plain soy yogurt
1/4 cup water
1/4  teaspoon crushed cumin
1/2 teaspoon fresh lemon juice
salt to taste

METHOD FOR FALAFEL BALLS:
1. Mix the three peas and wash them well in warm water. Let them soak for 5 hours or overnight. 
2. Once soaked, rinse the peas again and then blend them. Do not blend to a paste but leave it with slightly larger pieces. Add the spinach/kale, celery, green onions/scallions, garlic cloves, half cilantro and green chili 🌶.
It should look like this.

3. Keep the mixture aside in the refrigerator for 1 hour so it firms up.  After an hour, remove from the refrigerator and make into balls.
4. Heat oil on medium heat until it is hot. Fry the balls until they are golden brown. Once fried, they should look like this:

Note: Allergy Friendly, Vegan, Gluten Free, Dairy Free and Nut Free.

METHOD FOR SALAD: 🥗
1 . Wash all ingredients and chop into small pieces.  It should look like this:

Keep it aside.

METHOD FOR THE HOT SAUCE: 
1. Wash all of the ingredients and soak them 1/2 hour. Strain the water and blend the ingredients  with a few tablespoons of water. It should have a saucy consistency and it should look like this:

METHOD FOR THE TAHINI SAUCE:
1. Mix all of the ingredients with a hand blender and the sauce should look like this:

PREPARING THE FALAFEL SANDWICH:
How to eat falafel 🥙… everyone loves to eat it in different ways, either plain, as a sandwich or as a salad.

For a sandwich, lightly toast the gluten free pita and cut it half way through. Then split it open and stuff it with the balls, salad and sauces.

As a salad, mix the balls, vegetables and sauces into a bowl. It is also delicious!

Note:  All of the components of the falafel sandwich are Allergy Friendly, Vegan, Gluten Free, Dairy Free and Nut Free.