Healthy Falafel Fun: A Kid-Friendly Lunchtime Delight

Who decided lunch has to be meaty?

Every now and then, I meet moms who are shocked at the thought of a lunch without schnitzel or chicken patties.

Don't get me wrong. I'm not a vegan or vegetarian.

There are essential nutrients that our bodies can't produce on their own.
A kosher animal, eating its food from the ground, generates these nutrients in its body, and when we consume the animal, we obtain this component from it.
A common example we are all familiar with is Vitamin B12.
This example also supports my argument that we don't need to eat meat daily, as Vitamin B12 can be stored in the body for long periods (excluding extreme cases like anemia, where it's essential to follow a doctor's instructions. This article pertains to healthy children and adults).

Other nutrients include iron and zinc, better absorbed from animal sources, iodine from fish (also present in seaweed), omega-3, which behaves differently in the body depending on whether it comes from animal or plant sources, and many more examples.

For those of you choosing a vegetarian or vegan lifestyle, it’s crucial to do so with professional guidance, especially if this diet is for growing children.
But, you’re benefiting—future articles will focus on wise, healthy, and particularly nourishing diets based on plant protein.

We live in a Western society abundant in meat consumption, well beyond the health recommendations of established experts who have extensively researched the field.
An excess of animal protein and fat over time disrupts our body’s balance—the body converts excess protein into toxic nitrogenous waste, which can overburden the kidneys, and in extreme cases, the liver.
Animal protein also leads to excess acidity in our bodies, and our wise bodies, always striving for balance, release calcium stored in bones into the bloodstream to balance this acidity.
If that's not enough, the added chemicals in today's processed meats only add fuel to the fire.

So what do we do? We diversify.
Every other day.
At our home, for example, we eat meat for Shabbat dinner, again for the third meal on Shabbat day, and on Sunday, we consume leftover Shabbat meat.
Monday through Thursday, the family enjoys a rich, varied, and primarily healthy and nourishing vegetarian diet.
It's not set in stone; occasionally, we have another meat meal midweek (especially if it coincides with Rosh Chodesh)—and that's perfectly fine.

In a previous article, we discussed how combining grains (rice, corn, wheat, oats, pearl barley, etc.) with legumes (chickpeas, beans, peas, lentils, etc.) creates complete protein.
We also provided excellent examples of meals containing this combination:

• Mejadra (rice and lentils)
• Couscous (wheat with chickpeas, plus wonderful cooked vegetables)
• Chamin (barley and beans)

This time I want to give you a great recipe for homemade baked falafel.
The falafel, made from chickpeas—a legume—is eaten in pita—a grain, thus providing our family a delightful, healthy, and nourishing meal that satisfies both body and soul.

Recipe for Homemade Baked Falafel

Grind in a food processor:

• 2 cups of frozen chickpeas
• 1 large onion
• 6 cloves of garlic
• A handful of cilantro
• A handful of parsley
• Salt, pepper, cumin
• Half a teaspoon of baking powder
• 2 tablespoons of oats (if you've gotten to know me, you know I "sneak" oats in wherever possible)

All ingredients in the food processor

And grind...

It's important to note that cilantro, parsley, and all leafy greens must be Mehadrin grown, kosher without bugs.
Soaking regular growth in soapy water or salted water won’t truly help. Some insects even burrow into the stems themselves.
Due to global warming, insect populations have increased. A pest control expert once confessed to me that in recent years, ants have "taught the pest control community a lesson." Today, there are insect types in quantities that didn’t exist 50 years ago.

Mehadrin grown produce was once found to be laden with harmful pesticides—but to their credit, they have since made many positive changes. They reduced spraying, with some places switching to biological/organic pest control, aquaponics, and even double-netted greenhouses, with some crops grown in completely sealed greenhouses. But even when buying Mehadrin produce, you should pay attention to preparation instructions on the package.

Alright, back to our tasty falafel.
After grinding the mixture, let it rest for at least 20 minutes, allowing all the flavors to blend into a wonderful harmony.
I prefer to prepare the mixture the night before and store it in the fridge, giving me one less task to tackle when I get home in the afternoon.

Next step—prepare a baking sheet with parchment paper and spray with oil.

Let the kids roll the mixture into balls and place them on the tray—this is a double win:
Free time to wash morning dishes still in the sink or run a load of laundry,
and another win because the kids are so proud of themselves and the meal they helped prepare, they eat with joy.

Make balls and bake in the oven

Bake for 20 minutes at 200 degrees.
Turn the balls onto the other side and bake for another 10 minutes.

While baking, prepare tahini.
Mix sprouted Ethiopian tahini with a little water, crushed garlic, a little fresh lemon juice, salt, and cumin.
I can't provide precise quantities—everyone needs to experiment to find the flavors that best suit their family and themselves.

Now, just prepare a rich and healthy vegetable salad.
I like to add a spoonful of chia seeds to my salad. They contain omega-3, important minerals like calcium, manganese, magnesium, zinc, potassium, and vitamins from the B group.
Of course, remember to choose the chia carefully.

And that’s it. Easily, the family received a real treat—a falafel lunch.

Serve with salad and tahini

Have you tried the recipe?
How was the reaction at home?
Update us in the comments.

Do you have more grain and carb combined lunch ideas? Update in the comments too, I’d love to learn.

Notice those entering the article via the app—due to a glitch, some content might be cut off, as happened in recent articles. Therefore, it’s best to access my articles directly through the website rather than the app.
Additionally, anyone who signed up for email notifications whenever a new article in my "Nutrition and Faith" series is published will need to re-register (notices were not sent last week).

With Hashem's help, in the next article, we'll learn about unique grains considered as complete proteins.
Until then, be well,
Chen Tovi