Soft Pita Bread | Crispy Falafel | Tahini Sauce | Yogurt Sauce | Pita Pockets

Falafel Pita Pockets with Tahini sauce and Yogurt sauce. This delicious, protein rich middle eastern dish is my family's all time favorite. Make perfect pita pockets at home! The pita comes out super soft in the air fryer and in the oven. Along with the crispy air fried and deep fried falafel, tahini sauce and yogurt sauce, the recipe for this yummy dish is extremely simple and easy to understand.

In this blog, you will learn how to make:

• Perfect pita pockets in air fryer / oven

• Crispy falafels in air fryer / deep fried

• Tahini sauce

• Yogurt sauce

• How to put them together for a simple, healthy and tasty wrap.

Ingredients

For Pita bread

• 1.5 cups whole wheat flour

• 1.5 cups all purpose flour

• 1.5 tsp yeast

• 1 tbsp sugar

• 1 tsp salt or per taste

• 1.5 cups water

For Falafel

• 3 cups chickpeas/kabuli chana

• 1 cup packed cilantro leaves

• 1 medium sized onion chopped

• 3 cloves garlic

• ½ inch ginger chopped

• 2 green chilli peppers/Jalapeno or per taste

• 1 tsp roasted cumin powder (optional)

• 1 tsp coriander powder (optional)

• 1 tsp red chilli powder (optional)

• ⅓ cup almond flour (Healthier option) or All purpose flour

• 1 tsp salt or per taste

For Tahini paste

• ½ cup white sesame seeds

• ¼ cup olive oil

For Tahini sauce

• ½ cup tahini paste (made from above)

• ¼ cup lemon juice

• 3 cloves garlic grated

• 4 tbsp cold water

• ¼ tsp roasted cumin powder

• ¼ tsp salt

For Yogurt dip

• ½ cup thick yogurt

• ¼ tsp garlic powder

• 1 tsp parsley fresh or dried

• 1 tsp lemon juice

• ¼ tsp salt

Instructions

Cook time: 1 hour	Soak time: 6-8 hours	Servings: 8

Pita Bread

Make the dough

• Add 1 cup warm water (100 to 110 degrees Fahrenheit) to a deep mixing bowl.

• To that add 1 tbsp sugar.

• Then add 1.5 tsp yeast.

• Yeast will activate in 5 minutes.

• Now add 1.5 cups of whole wheat flour and 1.5 cups all purpose flour.

• Add 1 tsp salt.

• Using the dough hook, dough mixer or your hands, make the dough by adding water little by little. Total water needed is around 1.5 cups. Knead it well for at least 10min.

• Tuck in the dough and spread ½ a tsp oil on the dough

• Cover with cling wrap and let rest for 1-2 hours.

• The dough will rise beautifully to triple the size.

• Divide the dough into balls. Brush in some flour and roll them to about ¼ inch thick.

Air Fry method

• Pre-heat the air fryer to 400 degrees for 10min.

• Place the roll on the air fryer basket.

• Air fry for 5 min. Keep looking as it puffs up pretty quickly and turns brown quickly. After puffing, take it out after 30 seconds to a minute. For soft Pita pockets we do not want it to get too brown.

• Soft Pita bread is ready.

Conventional Baking method

• Pre-heat the oven to 450 degrees

• Bake the pitas for 5 min

• Flip and bake for 1 min or till done.

Falafel

• Soak 3 cups of chickpeas/kabuli chana for 6-8 hours or overnight. Skip this step if using canned chickpeas.

• Drain all the water from the chickpeas (You may dry it on a paper towel). This is to make sure there is no moisture to help not to disintegrate in oil.

• Put all the above ingredients of falafel in a food processor and process to a coarse consistency. You could use a blender too but the food processor works better for coarse consistency.

• Make small balls and deep fry or air fry (as below) them.

Air Fry method

• Preheat the air-fryer at 350F for 5min.

• Place the falafel balls on the air-fryer basket, Brush with little oil and air fry for 10 min.

• Flip them, brush with some oil and air-fry for 7-10 min.

Tahini Paste

• Dry roast sesame seeds until it changes color slightly. It’s roasted in 5-7 min.

• Let it cool down.

• Blend it with ½ cup olive oil to make a fine paste. This can be stored in the refrigerator for a month in an air-tight glass jar.

• This makes ½ cup tahini paste.

Tahini Sauce

• Take ½ cup tahini paste.

• Add grated garlic to lemon juice and let it sit for 10 min.

• With a strainer, strain the lemon juice into the tahini paste, pressing in the garlic to get all the flavor.

• Add 4 tbsp cold water

• Add ¼ tsp roasted cumin powder

• Now add this to the tahini paste. The texture will change like curdling. Keep stirring and it will turn into a nice paste.

Yogurt Dip

• Mix ½ cup yogurt with ¼ tsp garlic powder.

• Sprinkle 1 tsp fresh or dry parsley and add 1 tsp lemon juice

• Give it a mix while adding some water for a little liquid consistency.

Putting them all together

• Cut the hot pita bread into half and open the pockets.

• Add in chopped lettuce, cucumbers, onions, tomatoes

• Add in 2 hot falafels

• Sprinkle some yogurt dip and tahini sauce.

• Garnish with cilantro.

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