Stinging Nettle Recipe: Falafel with Nettle Yogurt Sauce
Watch your fingers, because we’ve got a stinging nettle recipe for you- it’s our amazing stinging nettle and quinoa falafel with a herbed stinging nettle yogurt sauce! The nettles give great flavor, and the quinoa gives great texture to the crunchy, crispy, falafel. The nettle sauce is herbaceous, creamy, and tangy. Both pair delightfully in a pita, with tomatoes, onions, lettuce, and hummus.
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How to Identify Stinging Nettle
Disclaimer- use caution when foraging wild edibles, and always be certain of your identification. While I assume responsibility for the accuracy of the information provided on this site, I can’t responsible for the accuracy of your information. Consult multiple websites, books and local experts, and when it doubt, do without.
Stinging nettles poke out first in spring, and this is when they are the best. The tender first shoots are less tough than the more mature plant, and are perfect when they’re about the height of your fingers. The grow along paths, rivers, wetlands and in fields. In summer they can reach heights of eight feet tall. The have heart-shaped leaves with jagged edges, and are oriented opposite to each other along the stalk. The young leaves can have purplish undersides, that will darken to dark green over time. They have small hairs along the stalks, and on some varieties on the bottoms of the leaves, which are the sting in stinging nettles. These hairs act like tiny hypodermic needles, and gently inject a cocktail of chemicals under your skin when you pick them. They’re harmless (in fact, some claim the sting is beneficial), but it does sting! The young plants often won’t sting yet, so they can easily be picked with bare hands- if you’re harvesting later, just wear some gloves. Chopping, cooking, and other processing techniques will eliminate the sting, rendering them safe to eat.
Looking for a Vegan Stinging Nettle Recipe? Try one of these!
- Garlic and Herb Vegan Nettle Breadsticks (Urtica dioica)
- Spring Stinging Nettle Pasta with Vegan Parmesan
- Lentil and Nettle Soup: Stinging Nettle Benefits &; Recipe
- Easy Nettle Soup from Vegan on Board
- Stinging Nettle Pesto from Small Footprint Family
All About Traditional Falafel
Because these aren’t exactly traditional falafel, I wanted to make sure to take a second to tell you what traditional falafel are, and how these differ. Falafel are a Middle Eastern food, probably developing out of Egypt although many different countries claim to be the origin of the modern version. The word falafel refers to the crispy balls or patties, which are often served as street food in a pita. Usually they are made with chickpeas or fava beans, and fried. We do have a fried option, but we actually chose to bake ours this time. Usually when you’re making homemade falafel, you use dried chickpeas that have been soaked for 24 hours- we opted for a quicker option, and just used some canned chickpeas. I hear this is a bit of a falafel sin, but it worked fine for us. While parsley is a common addition to falafel, we used stinging nettles- not traditional, of course, but I think it fits well within the sentiment of falafel. We also added some quinoa, again not traditional. Quinoa is a superfood native to the South American Andes, and so while it’s far from home in this Middle Eastern dish, it adds a wonderful crunch and texture.
How to Make this Stinging Nettle Recipe
This stinging nettle recipe all starts with harvesting a good 1 1/2 cups of stinging nettles and giving them a good wash. If you are using young stinging nettle tips, you can pluck the whole plant. If you are using older nettles, just harvest the top few sets of leaves. First things first, get your quinoa cooking so it can be added to your falafel. Add the nettles and chickpeas and all the ingredients for the falafel, aside from the quinoa, to a food processor, and process until it’s all finely ground. Once the quinoa is ready, drain it and add it. Pulse a few times, and then transfer the dough to the fridge. The falafel will be much easier to roll when they’re chilled. In the meantime, you can blend the dressing, and prep the vegetables for the wraps. I make my falafel into sort of hockey puck shapes, using an over-filled tablespoon. You can either bake or fry these falafel- I’m sure you could air fry them too, but I haven’t experimented with that. When serving, fill a pita up with your favorite toppings- I used hummus, onion, tomato, lettuce, as well as the nettle sauce and the nettle falafel.
Stinging Nettle Quinoa Falafel with Nettle Yogurt Sauce
Ingredients
- ½ cup dry quinoa
- 1 cup of stinging nettles, well-packed
- 1 cup of canned or rehydrated chickpeas
- 1 clove garlic
- 1 tbsp. nutritional yeast
- 1 tbsp. olive oil, plus more for cooking
- 1 tsp. lemon juice
- ¼ tsp. salt
- ¼ tsp. black pepper
- 1 ½ cup vegan yogurt
- ½ cup stinging nettles, well-packed
- ¼ cup parsley, well-packed
- 1 clove garlic
- 2 tbsp. lemon juice
- Salt and pepper, to taste
- Pita or another flatbread
- Purple onion, diced
- Lettuce, washed
- Tomatoes, cut into small pieces, or cherry tomatoes cut in half
- Hummus
Instructions
- Start the falafel. Cook the quinoa as directed on the package. While the quinoa cooks, place the nettles, chickpeas, garlic, nutritional yeast, olive oil, lemon juice, salt and pepper in a food processor, and process for a couple minutes. Once the quinoa is cooked, add it to the food processor and pulse to combine. Transfer the mixture to a bowl, and place in the fridge until it’s cool to the touch.
- In the meantime, add all the ingredients for the dressing in a blender and blend until smooth. Taste, adjust the seasoning to your preference.
- When the falafel dough is chilled, remove from the fridge. Scoop out generous tablespoons, roll into balls, and flatten slightly into thick discs. Place on a baking sheet lined with a silicone mat. Choose to either cook the oven or the fried option.
- Baked Option: Preheat the oven to 400°F (200°C). Brush the falafels with a little olive oil, and place in the oven for 15 minutes. Remove from the oven, flip, and bake for another 15 minutes.
- Fried Option: Heat about half an inch of vegetable oil in a skillet to about 360°F (185°C). Place some falafel in the pan (but don’t over-crowd, work in batches) and cook for about 2 minutes. Flip and cook for another 2 minutes. Remove from the oil, and let drain on a plate lined with a paper towel.
- To serve, spread a little hummus in a pita. Add the lettuce, chopped tomatoes and onions, 3-4 falafel, and a few generous spoons of the yogurt nettle sauce.
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