One of the most quintessential and beloved Middle Eastern foods is the falafel sandwich, a warm pita bread stuffed with crispy hot falafel balls, surrounded by cool and crunchy diced tomatoes, and onions, and drenched with creamy Tzatziki Sauce. All ingredients for this wonderful dish are easily found in standard supermarkets, and although it has many components, its simplicity makes it a wonderful weekday lunch or dinner, or a meal-prep staple that you can cook and freeze.
Angela tried the falafel along the Haji Lane – mini Middle Eastern in Singapore and fall in love with the flavour and we decided to recreate it. Falafel is traditionally made from chickpeas. It can be fried or baked for a lighter version. Restaurants sometimes serve falafel as a platter, over a bed of rice, but stuffed into pita bread is the more popular, easy, and on-the-go version. In the Middle East, it shares popularity with the sabich sandwich, a pita stuffed with eggplant, hard-boiled eggs, Israeli salad, hummus, and amba sauce.
For our recipe, you’ll need to have ready falafel balls, from scratch or from a mix.
Choosing the Pita Bread
There are only two options for us to choose provided in the supermarket, original pita bread by mission and wholemeal pita bread by mission. As we are currently on diet, we always choose the one with lesser calories which is wholemeal pita bread. Both pita bread by the mission is a small pocket which is good for a small meal aka snack.
If you want something big and couldn’t get one in your local market like us, try making one, it is like making bread. It will require a few ingredients you may already have on hand! Mix up the very simple dough, let it rise, and experience the magic of fresh, warm, perfectly puffy homemade pita bread. Should we try next time?
SimpleTzatziki Sauce
Mediterranean dishes. You can also slather it on your sandwiches, or simply use it as a dip with a warm pita and your favourite vegetables! We also use this sauce for the Chicken Gyros Pita which taste delicious like this recipe.
We like to mix my actual tzatziki sauce by hand in a large bowl. First, combine greek yoghurt, minced garlic, chopped cucumber, chopped drill, extra virgin olive oil, and a pinch more salt. Make sure to stir until everything is well combined. For best taste and texture, cover tzatziki sauce tightly and refrigerate for a couple of hours before use.
Lastly, if you are on a gluten-free diet, or just want to try something different, falafel salads are a good alternative. Use any greens and toss in any of your favourite veggies (tomatoes, cucumber, bell pepper, olives).
Stay tuned for our homemade falafel recipe!
xoxo, Joe
Falafel Pita Sandwich
Ingredients
1 tablespoon olive oil
6 pita bread loaves
18 cooked falafel balls, from homemade or store-bought falafel mix
6 baby tomatoes, sliced
lettuce, cut into smaller pieces
1 medium white or red onion, thinly sliced
Tzatziki Sauce, homemade or store-bought, to taste
Methods
- In a pre-heated oven of 180 C, bake the pita bread for 10 minutes. Or you can heat a large nonstick skillet or griddle to medium-high heat. Coat with olive oil and heat a pita round for 2 minutes on each side. The pita may begin to brown a little. Repeat with the remaining pita rounds, making sure to cut the top part to reveal the pocket after heating.
- Stuff each pita round with 2 falafel balls and a spoonful each of lettuce and sliced tomatoes. Top each with sliced onion, and a generous drizzle of tahini sauce.
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