Baked Butternut Squash Falafel with Maple Tahini Sauce

—Not On Website, Middle Eastern

Prep Time: 15 minutes Cook Time: 20 minutes Servings: Yield: 12 balls Source:

Ingredients

For the butternut squash falafel:

1/2 cup oat flour

3 cloves garlic, roughly chopped

1 1/2 cup cooked butternut squash*

1 (15-ounce) can garbanzo beans, drained and rinsed

1/2 cup parsley leaves, stemmed

1/2 lemon, juiced

1 tsp. onion powder

2 tsp. ground coriander

2 tsp. ground cumin

1/2 tsp. turmeric

1/2 tsp. black pepper

1 tsp. sea salt

For the maple tahini sauce:

1/2 cup tahini

2 tbsp. pure maple syrup

1/4 cup lemon juice (from 1–2 lemons)

water to thin (about 2 tbsp.)

salt and pepper

Directions

Preheat the oven to 400°F line a baking sheet with parchment paper or a silicone mat.

Add chickpeas, garlic and cooked or steamed butternut squash to the bowl of a food processor. Pulse just a few times until you get a chunky mixture. You do not want to fully puree the mixture! Just a couple pulses should leave it chunky.

Transfer mixture into a bowl and add cumin, coriander, onion powder, turmeric and salt and pepper along with the roughly chopped parsley. Add the lemon juice and stir together to combine.

Use a cookie scoop to portion into balls on the baking sheet.

Bake for about 20 minutes or until the tops are golden brown.

While the falafels bake, combine all of the ingredients for the maple tahini sauce. Sauce should be thin enough to use as a drizzle, but not super watery! Add more water as necessary to thin it out.

Remove falafel from oven, let cool slightly and drizzle with maple tahini sauce.

Notes

* I steamed a bag of cubed butternut squash which worked great in this recipe, however you can definitely roast cube butternut squash in the oven at 400 degrees for 15-20 minutes tossed in a tbsp. of avocado oil.