Falafel with Garam Masala Sauce and Rice

Crispy falafel nestled in a bed of thick and creamy garam masala sauce served alongside rice. An easy and impressive vegan fusion recipe!

Happy 100th post!! I cannot believe it’s already been over 2 years and I have published 99 posts on Home Baked Bliss so far! It seems just like yesterday that I had a dream to start my own blog, and after some major encouragement from my husband, dared to plunge into the blogging sphere. There have been plenty of ups and downs and it has definitely been a challenge but it has also been an amazing and exciting time. Teaching myself photography and simple coding was probably the hardest thing I did (and am still doing). Even today, I still feel like a newbie and have a lot to learn. However, looking back on early posts I am definitely happy to see where I have come today.

Enough sentiments though, let’s talk about this incredibly delicious and easy-to-prepare dinner (or lunch!) here. Today’s dish is definitely a clash of different cuisines, fusion if you will. Fusion meals are great because they are a fun way to add some diversity into your meal plan. Plus you can take your favorite spices and ingredients from different countries and mix them together to create wonderful and flavorful dishes….such as this half Middle Eastern half Indian dish here.

This recipe was inspired by several of my favorite dishes such as falafel bowls, shakshuka, and malai kofta. What do these dishes have in common? They are all incredibly flavorful and vegetarian. But today we are taking it a step further and leaving out the dairy all together. So if you vegan or are having some vegan friends over for dinner, this is a great recipe for you to try. To speed things up we are using store-bought falafel as opposed to homemade. This will save you a bunch of time and stress. (Bonus points if you have the extra time and make the falafel yourself. #falafeldedication)

The star of this dish however, is the homemade garam masala sauce with delicious herbs and spices such as bay leaves, paprika, garam masala and black pepper. It is one of those sauces you need to make once in your life (or rather every Friday). It gets its creaminess from the cashew nuts that are blended into the cooked tomatoes which create this gorgeous thick, creamy magic sauce. No soupy sauce here!

I served some baked zucchini slices on the side. You can omit if you wish, though they do pull the whole dish together somehow. Plus we are trying to be healthy here, with it being the new year and all. 😉

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Falafel with Garam Masala Sauce and Rice

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• Prep Time: 40
• Cook Time: 20
• Total Time: 60

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Ingredients

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• 1–2 cloves of garlic
• 1 large onion
• 8 large tomatoes
• 2 tablespoons olive oil
• 2 bay leaves
• 1/2–1 teaspoon salt
• 1 teaspoon paprika powder
• 2 teaspoons garam masala
• 1/4 teaspoon black pepper
• 2 and 1/2 tablespoons sugar
• 280g rice (1 and 1/2 cups)
• 1 medium zucchini
• salt and pepper
• 60g cashews* (1/2 cup)
• 12–16 falafel
• fresh parsely**

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Instructions

1. For the sauce, peel and chop the garlic cloves and onion into bite size pieces. Wash and chop the tomatoes and set aside.
2. In a large pan, heat 1 tablespoon of olive oil and saute the garlic and onions until soft, about 3 minutes on medium-high.
3. Then add in the tomatoes, bay leaves, salt, paprika, garam masala, black pepper and sugar and cook on medium heat for 15 minutes, until the tomatoes have broken down.
4. In the meantime, cook the rice according to the package instructions. Wash and cut the zucchini into round slices and season with 1 tablespoon of olive oil and salt and pepper. Bake at 200°C or 400°F for 10-12 minutes until soft.
5. Once the tomatoes have finished cooking, tranfer them to a blender***, add the cashews and blend until smooth.
6. Heat the falafel according to package instructions.
7. Transfer the sauce back into the pan, add the falafel and sprinkle with chopped parsley. Serve rice and zucchini on the side. Serve hot.

Notes

• *You can use raw or roasted cashews.
• **Swapping the parsely for cilantro is also delicious.
• ***Make sure you are using a high power blender that can break down nuts entirely.
• You can make the sauce a few days ahead and store in the refrigerator and simply reheat when needed. I suggest preparing the rest fresh.

Nutrition

• Serving Size: 4

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