The leftover dilemma arrives every week. Some time between lunch and dinner time on Sunday I realize the fridge is full of food but I don’t want to re-eat Friday night dinner for the next three or four meals. Combining bok choy with some other veggies will give us a great stir fry for tomorrow night and Tuesday will be BBQ chicken pizza but when all said and done, I still have plenty of quinoa calling for more than soy-sauce. A little research showed me all roads pointed to Heidi Swanson, and my felafel flavored quinoa patties were born, satisfying my desire for a taste of the Middle East a fraction of the effort needed for make-from-scratch felafel balls.

The prep time for this dish was not long. In fact, I was washing the dishes within 30 minutes of getting started, and our two year old son kept running from his blow up pool in the yard to the kitchen for “more food please“, finishing three patties by himself. I was expecting some trial and error, but a short brainstorming session before I got started was all I needed before I knew the direction I wanted for this dish.

The leftover qunioa was truly the key to the ease of this dish. The quinoa dish I was using had diced sweet potatoes in already, but this is not necessary.

Ingredients for Falafel Flavored Quinoa Patties (13 patties)

A couple of slices of (whole wheat) bread, or some leftover challah. This will be used to make breadcrumbs, if you prefer not to make your own breadcrumbs substitute this with 1 cup of unseasoned breadcrumbs.

3 cups of leftover quinoa

4 eggs

2 tablespoons parsley

2 teaspoons cumin

2 teaspoons zaatar

3 cloves garlic

1/2 teaspoon coriander

1/2 teaspoon turmeric

1/4 teaspoon chili powder

1 teaspoon salt

Half a large onion, chopped finely

Oil for frying

Put your bread in to a mini food processor and pulse until you have fine breadcrumbs. Before removing the breadcrumbs from the food processor, add the parsley, cumin, zaatar, garlic, cumin, coriander, turmeric, chili powder and salt.

Pulse a few more times to mix well. Remove the seasoned breadcrumbs from the food processor, set aside and finely chop your onion in the same bowl – no need to rinse it. Layer three cups of quinoa, the chopped onion and season breadcrumbs in a bowl big enough for you to mix the ingredients. Add four eggs, and mix.

Pre heat some cooking oil, and using a 1/4 cup scoop, put your patties in the hot skillet. Cook for three to four minutes on each side, until golden brown. Remove from the oil and set on paper towels to absorb excess oil.

I did not serve these with anything at all, but they’d be delicious in fresh pita bread with chilled parsley tahini, or hummus, of course! For the Weightwatchers that read my blog, the 1/4 cup sized patties are 2 points each before being fried. This dish could easily be adapted if you want to make smaller falafel sized balls, but do not fry them for as long, they will dry out.