When my family gets together for dinner, we try to create meal options that the whole family can enjoy. Since half of my family is vegetarian, a favorite is falafel and gyro night. Many of the ingredients in falafels and gyros overlap, so it’s easy to great a platter that everyone grabs from. It’s also easy on my mom who always tries to please everyone.
We make chickpea falafels and turkey meatballs, buy pocket pita (much easier than making it), and chop up veggies as toppings. My mom also makes homemade roasted red pepper sauce and tzatziki sauce as additional toppings. See the full recipe below.
Note: If you don’t want to make the falafels from scratch, try this ready-made mix!
Homemade Falafel Recipe and Gyro Recipe
Chickpea Homemade Falafel Recipe
The falafels can be fried or baked. Go with the baked option to stay on the healthier side. Ingredients include chickpeas, onion, cilantro, parsley, garlic, chili pepper, cumin, coriander, salt pepper, flour. Throw all of the ingredients into the blender and gently pulse it. You want everything roughly chopped, not pureed.
Chicken Meatballs
The chicken or turkey meatballs for the gyros are also baked. Ingredients include ground turkey, minced garlic, grated ginger, minced green chili, chopped onion, chopped cilantro, turmeric, salt, pepper, egg, lemon juice and lemon zest. Throw all of the ingredients into a mixer with a flat beater and let it combine slowly.
Tzatziki Tahini Sauce
So this is where we had a delima. It was hard to decide between tahini sauce and tzatziki sauce, so we just combined the two. Combine yogurt, ground sesame seeds, lemon juice, olive oil, grated cucumber, cumin powder, coriander powder, chopped parsley, salt and pepper.
Roasted Red Pepper Sauce
My most favorite sauce for Mediterranean and Middle Eastern food. Blend together strips of roasted red pepper, chopped garlic, red chili, cumin, salt, sugar, lemon juice and water.
Once all of the toppings are ready, you can assemble it to your favorite proportions.
