Spiralized Zucchini with Tomato Sauce and Falafel
Falafel and spiralized zucchini aka zoodles. Yes, please! This dish quickly became a family favorite.
Servings: 2
Calories: 421kcal
Ingredients
- 2 zucchini spiralized
For falafel
- 3 cups fresh spinach
- 1.5 cup cooked or canned chickpeas (½ cup dried = 1.5 cup cooked = 1 15 oz can drained)
- 1/4 cup red onion roughly chopped
- 3 clove garlic roughly chopped
- 1.5 tbsp peanut butter
- 1 tbs extra-virgin olive oil
- 1/2 lime or lemon juice only (use less if using lemon, ½ lime = 1 tbsp)
- 1/2 tsp ground cumin seeds
- 1 tbsp water
- sea salt to taste
- black pepper to taste
- 3-4 tbsp flour of your choice (GF if needed)
For the sauce
- 2.5 cups tomato chopped
- 1/2 cup red onion finely chopped
- 1/2 cup bell pepper (capsicum, any color) finely chopped
- 1 clove garlic minced
- 1/2 dried rosemary
- 1 tsp dried oregano
- sea salt to taste
- black pepper to taste
Instructions
- Preheat oven to 350°F or 175°C.
- Add garlic, onion, and spinach to a blender. Pulse a few times to break up into small pieces.
- Add chickpeas, peanut butter, water lemon juice, cumin, salt and pepper to a food processor and mix to combine. Do not over-process as you want to keep some texture in there.
- Once well incorporated, transfer to a mixing bowl and stir in flour 1 tablespoon at a time until the mixture is thick enough to handle. If the mixture is too wet add more flour, too dry add more water. Taste and adjust seasonings as need
- Form balls from the falafel mixture. Use palms to flatten into patties.
- Line baking sheet with parchment paper and evenly space out falafel patties. Bake for 20 minutes, flipping halfway.
- Meanwhile, heat a skillet with cooking oil over medium heat. Saute onion for 2-3 minutes while stirring. Add garlic and cook for 2 minutes more.
- Stir in tomatoes and cook until the tomatoes start to fall apart and form a sauce. Season with oregano, rosemary, salt and pepper to taste. This will take about 10 minutes. Stir regularly. Add a little water if needed.
- Spiralize zucchini, In a separate pan/skillet heat cooking oil over medium heat.
- Then add zucchini noodles and cook until softened and heated through. This will take about 3-5 minutes. Stir regularly.
- Add noodles to a bowl and top with tomato sauce and falafel patties
Notes
- If you don't have a spiralizer, the easiest way to use a vegetable peeler or julienne peeler is to hold the zucchini down on a flat surface and slide from top to bottom to make ribbons or spaghetti-like strands. A vegetable peeler will make flat fettuccini-like strands/ribbons while a julienne peeler will make spaghetti-like strands. We used a spiralizer for this recipe. Click here for more info on how to spiralize veggies.
- Many of us buy canned chickpeas because of the long soaking and cooking times. But did you know that you could soak and cook a big batch and freeze them for later use? Click here for more info (there's also a quick cooking method in there if you forgot to soak the chickpeas overnight)
Interesting Read(s):
- 10 Easy Tips For A Healthy Life
- How to Become a Better Cook?
- How To Get Your Family To Support A Healthy Lifestyle