Lentil and Farro “Falafel”

I’ve been trying lots of new things lately in the kitchen and in life.

I find that the older I get the more anxiety I have about this.  It is most important to try new things when you feel a resistance to stepping out of your comfort zone.

Why you ask?

Well for me, it is so I can find the compromise between the person I want to be and the person I actually am.

The person I sometimes think I want to be is a bit of an extremist. She has a clean car, organized closets and she is radiating health from a raw food diet and a day of kayak surfing.

Yeahhhhh.

I made I made a raw, vegan cashew cheese. Have you ever had that before? It’s pretty good. But then I remembered that I’m not vegan and not on a raw diet and real cheese is really just so much better. I made it half a day on raw cashew cheese and salad and then had a feeding frenzy snack attack like none other when my kids got home from school.

And as for kayak surfing, the only wave I caught was the shore break that sent kayak, paddle, hat, and myself scattered along the beach in front of a small but notable audience.  Not exactly the graceful ocean exit plan I had in mind. Luckily for me awkward is the new cool.

So maybe I am the kind of girl who eats healthy, often vegetarian, and sticks to land sports, like hiking.

How would I have ever known this if I didn’t try?

I hope you find these Lentil Farro “Falafel” patties to be a nice compromise between healthy and extremely healthy eating. They are fresh and packed full of goodness. I used farro and lentils instead of chickpeas but the flavor profile still rings of falafel. I was planning on freezing some but we ate them all! Even my kids liked them, hooray!

If you are not trying to convince kids to try new things then I would add more spice and some hot sauce too. You could also switch up the veggies based on what you have in your fridge. I’m thinking shredded carrots and zucchini…just a thought.

Ingredients

1/2 cup onion

1/2 cup celery

2 cloves peeled garlic

1 cup chopped broccoli

1 cup chopped kale

1 1/2 cups cooked lentils (I used red but any kind would work)

1 cup cooked farro

juice of 1 lemon

1 egg

1/2 cup panko breadcrumbs

1/4 t g. coriander

1/4 t cumin

1/2 t salt

cracked pepper

olive oil for lightly pan frying

Directions

Cook your lentils and farro, separately. I like to make extra so I can have leftovers. In a food processor add the onion, celery, garlic, broccoli and kale and pulse until it is roughly chopped. Like this…

Take half of the veggies out and set aside. We will add them back in at the end so our finished product will have some nice texture and crunch to it. Add the rest of the ingredients to the food processor reserving 1/4 cup of the farro for the same reason.

Blend until you have a nice consistency. Add in the reserved veggies and farro and pulse until it all comes together. If the mixture feels too wet to make patties out of, you can add more panko, but don’t over do it because we don’t want dry patties. No no no.

Get a large pan hot and brush with olive oil. Lightly fry the patties on each side until golden brown. Serve over a Greek salad or serve with this yogurt dip. Yes yes yes, definitely serve with this yogurt dip!