falafel rollup w/ hummus, tzatziki and tahini-yogurt sauce

Mmmm. Just looking at these photos again I am just starved right now. I love homemade falafel balls. Either fresh from the deep fryer or cold from the leftover storage bin in the fridge--I don't care how, just love them. I can make a pretty good falafel sammie rollup. But you know what I love best about these gems? The fact that they can pretty much go with anything. I've added corn relish, sweet pepper relish, horsey sauce, etc.... But the best I've had so far is to add hummus and tzatziki AND some really good tahini-yogurt sauce. Oh the love of this combo people.
Please try this, I know you'll love it, and do me a favor? Experiment! Add on, take away, try new, etc...that's the best part.

Can we get a close up of the MONEY SHOT? You bet.

falafel rollups with hummus, tzatziki, and tahini-yogurt sauce
print recipe

falafel balls (are from mark bittman)

1 3/4 cup dried chickpeas
2 cloves garlic, lightly crushed
1 small onion, quartered
1 teaspoon ground coriander
1 tablespoon ground cumin
Scant teaspoon cayenne, or to taste
1 cup chopped parsley or cilantro leaves
1 teaspoon salt
1/2 teaspoon black pepper
1/2 teaspoon baking soda
1 tablespoon lemon juice
Neutral oil, like grapeseed or corn, for frying

For the falafel balls:
Put the beans in a large bowl and cover with water by 3 or 4 inches; they will triple in volume. Soak for 24 hours, adding water if needed to keep beans submerged.
Drain beans well (reserve soaking water) and transfer to a food processor. Add remaining ingredients except oil; pulse until minced but not pureed, scraping sides of bowl down; add soaking water if necessary to allow machine to do its work, but no more than 1 or 2 tablespoons. Keep pulsing until mixture comes together. Taste, adding salt, pepper, cayenne or lemon juice to taste.
Put the oil in a large, deep saucepan to a depth of at least 2 inches; more is better. The narrower the saucepan the less oil you need, but the more oil you use the more patties you can cook at a time. Turn heat to medium-high and heat oil to about 350 degrees (a pinch of batter will sizzle immediately).
Scoop heaping tablespoons of batter and shape into balls or small patties. Fry in batches, without crowding, until nicely browned, turning as necessary; total cooking time will be less than 5 minutes. Serve hot or at room temperature.

hummus
2 cups canned chickpeas, juices drained
Juice of 2 lemons
2 TB or more tahini paste
2 TB or less garlic, chopped
1/4 cup olive oil
Salt & pepper to taste (It does not need much salt)

For the hummus:
In a food processor, fitted with a metal blade, combine the chickpeas, lemon juice, tahini paste, and garlic. Process until smooth. With the machine running, add the olive oil, a little at a time. Season with salt and pepper. Spoon the humus in the center of a large platter. Arrange the black olives, red onion slices and fresh pita bread slices around the hummus.
Yield: about 2 cups

tzatziki sauce
16 oz. Greek style yogurt
1 cucumber, washed and peeled
3 - 4 cloves garlic, minced or pressed
1 TB extra virgin olive oil
1 TB lemon juice
1 ½ - 2 TB chopped fresh dill
½ ts salt
A pinch or two of cayenne pepper (optional, but wonderful)

Cut the cucumber in half lengthwise and scrape out the seeds with a small spoon. Then coarsely grate the cucumber. Gather the grated cucumber in a cheesecloth or paper towel and squeeze out the excess water, otherwise the tzatziki will be too runny. Get out as much water as you can, then mix the grated cucumber with everything else. It’s good to store this in fridge for about an hour to let all the flavors come together.

tahini-yogurt sauce
1-2 large garlic cloves, minced
3 TB tahini
1 cup plain yogurt
3 TB fresh lemon juice
½ ts paprika
Dash of hot sauce, optional but wonderful
Salt to taste
(I also love to add in a couple teaspoons of grated horseradish, this is up to you—it really tastes good though)

In a bowl, combine the garlic and tahini, then mix in the yogurt, lemon juice, hot sauce, and paprika. Taste, see if it needs salt. Then refrigerate for at least an hour for flavors to come together.

To assemble:
Use large mountain bread wraps other kind, but they should be the large size ones that are good for filling up the wraps with stuff. Spread a layer of the hummus, add in about 4 falafel balls, your choice of veggies (onions, carrots, black olives, lettuce, peppers, whatever you wish), then drizzle on some of the tahini-yogurt sauce. You can add on some tzatziki sauce, but I love to have mine on the side for dipping because I like a lot of on each and every bite.

Cook notes: You can also serve this rollup with fresh tomatoes slices, black olives, yellow onions, peppers, oh the list is endless indeed.
For a change in the flavor of your hummus add more garlic or add in your favorite pepper or onion or scallion (chopped of course and added in during the blending part). You can also add in eggplant or marinated artichokes to the mix for a really tasty mix.