Homemade Falafels in Pita

Back to healthy eating now that it's January.  Honestly, I asked my son to pick the falafels up pre-made from Costco today.  He told me a manager he asked said they are discontinued and they would no longer carry them.  That was a drag, as they were vegan and EASY to make - heat and serve!  So, after perusing a few recipes and not wanting to spend hours on this tonight, I came up with my own idea and crossed my fingers...

• 540 ml can of no salt chickpeas
• 1/4 small red onion, finely diced
• 4 cloves of garlic, minced
• handful of cilantro, chopped coarsely
• 1 teaspoon turmeric
• 1 teaspoon cumin
• Kosher salt and fresh cracked pepper, to taste (I found lots of salt was good and needed)
• 1/2 teaspoon cayenne pepper
• 1/4 teaspoon ground cardamom
• 1/2 teaspoon ground coriander
• 4 tablespoons all purpose flour (I would have used chickpea flour if I had it)
• Avocado oil, enough to coat cast iron pan a half inch deep

I rinsed and dried the chickpeas first.  

I put them in a towel and rolled them around.  I discarded any skins that came off while doing that.  All the ingredients went into the food processor except the flour.  

I processed in spurts until everything came together and held. Then I pulsed in 1 tablespoon of flour at a time until all combined.  I had to scrape down the sides with a spatula a couple of times.  I was looking for the consistency to be able to mold a ball.  I covered with plastic wrap and put it into the fridge for an hour.  

I used a small 2 ounce container to scoop the mix and pressed it in good.  Then I slightly flattened it to a disc.  4 for each pita, 2 for each half.  I heated the oil over medium low heat until it was hot enough to fry.  I tested one disc first.  I didn't want it to fry too fast, but wanted it hot enough to not absorb too much oil.  I used a fish spatula for these while cooking and did them in 2 batches.  It took me about 5 minutes per side for the "GBD" - golden, brown and delicious.  

Above is half a paper towel, so they weren't as big as the pictures look.  I warmed 100% whole wheat pitas in the oven wrapped  in tin foil.  I made a 0% m.f. Greek yogurt sauce with feta cheese, garlic and green onions.  I marinated some thinly sliced red onion in red wine vinegar and kosher salt as well.  I sliced a mini cucumber and some grape tomatoes.  Organic baby arugula would be the last veggie addition.  For mine, I used a roasted red pepper spread I had in the fridge, the yogurt sauce I made and a drizzle of this zhoug sauce from Trader Joe's.  Mine was hard to eat, I could not pick it up because I had so much in the thin pita.  It was still tasty eating it with a fork though.  

My son's dinner below was more boring with only yogurt sauce, onions, and arugula but he could eat his like a sandwich.

He requested the zhoug sauce on the side as it was quite spicy.  Not bad for a first try!!!  Seriously, the falafel taste was great.  All the additions in the pita made these very tasty and balanced.  YUM.  We both enjoyed the meal a lot.  My son said he was so impressed that I made falafel "on the fly" like that.  I admit I was surprised that it came out so good.